Beginnings and endings of childhoods
by Cid Dante
Summary: Set when Cid, Tseng and Sephiroth were all teenagers. Cid is rescued by the Turks after years of abuse from kidnappers. Tseng thinks that by taking him to Nibelhiem, the blonde can finally get a chance to recover from his horrific experience but it seems
1. Chapter 1

Don't own any of ff7 or the guys in it. My tormenting of these people are purely for fun and I'm not getting any money for this.  
Written to stop writer's block setting in on all my other stories...which is probably why I have it in the first place...it has sexual references and implied rape so don't read if you are offended. Also incest to a small degree...again. don't read if you offend easily! Cid Dante 

**Shinra Mansion**

He threw his school bag down on the marbled floor, watching it slide for a few seconds before stopping just short of the cupboard door. A bundle of newspapers sat waiting to be read on the large wooden dining table waiting to be used for it's actual purpose.

A headline caught his attention, "Missing Boy found in the Midgar Slums, Kidnappers Killed". Out of curiosty, the teen picked up the paper and skimmed through the artical. Some kid who had been missing since he was eight had just been found. The young child was being held by the Turks until the child's nearest relatives had been located, it's parents being killed when the child had been kidnapped.

A smile graced his thin lips, at least the child was now out of danger though being placed in the care of the Turks was something of a mixed blessing. Seven years of being held captive by complete strangers and now he was being passed around some more until someone claimed him.

He must feel so lonely and confused. It's a miracle that he even survived, he thought as he read the rest of the article but a small surge of pride welled up in his chest. The boy hadn't gave up and he was still fighting.

Loneliness was something that the teen knew all to well, there was no other children who wanted to play or hang out with him in the small close knit village that he was being forced into staying at right now. He felt so lonely, Hojo wanted nothing to do with him unless it involved needles or finding out how much pain the teenager could bear.

He wanted to perform some normal activities like the other kids who ran around outside. To enjoy feeling the warmth of the sun on his face and bare shoulders in the more pleasant weather. To play football or red rover. To hang out under the cool shade of the water tower that was a popular haunt.

The Turks would come and visit for a few days and then he would have the company of the newest recruit Tseng. The pair would walk and talk about thier future and play pranks on the older form of Rude who seemed to enjoy the chance to slack off work as well. However, the visits were usually only once every month and never lasted for any longer than three days.

His green eyes warily checked the calender that hung in the kitchen as he pulled out the bread bin, they were due for a visit within the next day or so. He'd have to figure out what he wanted to do with Tseng, perhaps the man would bring some movies that the young and isolated teenager had been so desperate to see.

So many films that the children at the high school had spoken about with passion or television shows that he'd missed due to there not being a, what Hojo called, an idiot box being in the huge mansion. Some days he would have given his right arm to sit and bask in the light of it and just to enjoy the blissful acception that would follow with the rest of the children as he told them that he had seen the same shows.

That was going to be a daydream, he could never see Hojo giving in to the repeated asking to get one. He'd seen the sheer anger in the professor's white and pasty face when Tseng had offered to nip out and buy one for him. Tseng had earned himself nothing but a whole host of degrading words and insults for that offer.

_It's not that Hojo is supplying me with alternative methods of amusing myself,_ the teen thought as he picked up the stale loaf of bread, a sigh escaped heavily from his thin lips.

Hojo hadn't been eating again if the bread was anything to go by, the teen knew that he would need to leave the mansion and go and get a fresh loaf. Shopping was something that he didn't mind as much if he was on his own, he could go out and get whatever he wanted. Sweets, alochol or watch a sport on the large tv that was held in the safety of the local pub.

Sometimes, he felt that he was the greasy man's personal slave when it came to living in the decandent surrounding of the mansion. Never allowed being near Hojo's room which was the master bedroom or the one beside it which had been turned into his study unless specially requested. Sephiroth's own bedroom was at the other end of the house, along with the guest bedrooms.

Out of habit, he checked to see what else the house was out of. Milk...cheese, usual food stuff. The little professor was going to be hungry when he emerged from his study later this evening so it was down to the teen's own culinary skills to cook for both of them tonight. Not that he was really going to complain about that, whenever Hojo cooked, food tasted funny and he always awoke the following morning feeling queasy and extremely painful.

"Professor?" he called as he walked out of the kitchen, "We need some bread and stuff. I'm going out for a bit to go and get them."

No answer but that didn't mean that he was not heard, it wasn't that unusual for the man to completely ignore him for days on end. Taking meals to his room and staying there, other times, he wouldn't even shut up. Going on about how he was close to bringing the Shinra to a new age, to greatness.

Those conversations meant nothing to the teen, he would lose himself in reading his carefully hidden manga comics under the huge epic novels that Hojo had supplied him with during one of his more generous moods. The manga comics had been gratefully offered by Tseng on his last visit, he'd read most of them and hoped the young Wutian would bring more of the distracting fodder with him.

"Professor? Is there anything you want me to get while I am out?" the teen listened silently as he walked a few steps up the huge stairway, again, he was greeted with the creaks and groans of the old house.

_I did ask_, he thought as he bolted out of the house to enjoy the last of the fading sun.

The sun seemed to have already set as he stepped outside of the huge heavy doors, the sun had begun to hide itself behind the imposing structure of the mansion and made the garden look creepy and dead. Huge shadows tore across the village, covering nearly everything it touched.

He took a deep breath of the fesh air, relishing how it tasted and felt so different than the stuffiness he was used to. Villages like this held so much quietness to it he had to keep pinching himself when he woke in the night to the peacefulness of it. Sometimes though, he would swear he could hear some wretched soul scream in the mansion's belly but there was nothing there. No entrance to the reported 'secret lab' that he heard whispered through the high school teens.

Very few of the residents of the the village were out, all having nice family meals in thier little warm homes. He'd take his time and enjoy the peaceful feeling that he had as he walked slowly along the dusty path down to the general store. A stray dog barked outside of the butcher's shop, waiting to see if the owner would toss it a bone.

"You'll be lucky," the soft spoken teen offered as he walked by the mongrel, "The guy wouldn't know charity if it smacked him square in his fat ass."

He preferred walking at night, so people wouldn't stare at him so much. High school was always a nightmare, the local boys constantly picking fights with him. The girls would avoid him like the plague though would sit and stare at him for hours on end. Batting eyelashes and sighing in longingness.

He reached the General store and pushed the door open, wondering what meal he could be bothered with making tonight. Perhaps something really simple like pasta or maybe even beans on toast sounded like a good idea. Surely teaching Hojo that he wasn't going to be a slave for the rest of his life.

The teen took his time wandering down the aisles, hoping for some kind of inspiration to hit him. Nothing seemed to stand out, microwavable meals with very little health value or taste seemed to be the only thing that might have been tempting. However, due to Hojo not wanting his young charge to become soft and flabby.

That had burned him more than Hojo knew, the teen was anything but flabby. Every part of his body was toned to perfection and he would never allow himself to slip so out of shape.

He lost himself to the mindless chore of grocery shopping, ignoring the giggling girls who seemed to be working behind the counter as he made his way down the packaged foods.


	2. welcome to Nibelhiem

**On the road to Nibelheim**

"He doesn't say much does he?" Tseng turned round partly in the front passenger seat, wondering if the male teenager would say something about that comment.

Nothing, not even a twitch of an eyebrow or curve of the lips to indicate that the teen had even heard that. All the young man did was sit with his hands laced between his knees, with his head lowered.

Tseng ran a hand through his long dark hair, wincing as he prodded a rather sensitive part of his skull from where he had cracked his head agaisnt the windscreen earlier. He was amazed at how the teen seemed to be so quiet after all he had been through. He looked so lost and wouldn't say boo to a chocobo. Rude spared the blonde in the backseat a quick glance in the rear view mirror before fiddling with the radio station.

Perhaps music would bring the slender teen out of his silence, "Kinda music you into?"

Rude's travelling companion blinked in surprise, his partner was actually trying to make conversation. How interesting and it was about music as well! How very unusual, the bald man would normally say nothing when in the presence of strangers but they were going to be having a rather long car journey to Niblehiem.

The silent blonde said nothing, merely raising his head a little and allowing Tseng the chance to see a rather ugly and self performed patch up job of a nasty slash across a pale right cheek. The black butterfly stitching was a sharp contrast on the young skin, bruises of various shades seemed to cover most of the skin that was shown.

As before, the teen said nothing. He hadn't spoken at all since he had been recovered from the brutal rape and attempted death back in the slums in Midgar. Though, when Tseng looked into the blue eyes, he could see that the teen almost wished that death had taken him.

Any touch was responded with a sharp intake of breath and the teen would try to press himself further agaisnt any flat object he could go agaisnt. Rude had been bitten and scratched as he had tried to escort the blonde into a hospital and the removal of his dirty clothes.

Tseng had said nothing but when they had finally managed to get a DNA sample from the teen, after heavily sedating him, they had learned that he was the child that had been kidnapped when he was eight years old. The child's parents had been killed and no further family remained to look after him, he was now a ward of the city.

"You sure Hojo isn't going to mind looking after him?" the younger Turk turned back round, taking in the amazing view of Cosmo Canyon.

He had his doubts about the scientist they were taking the blonde to. They were trying to allow the teen to gain back the trust that seemed to have been beaten out of him, somehow, Tseng couldn't help feel that they were going about it all wrong.

"Sephiroth's about the kid's age. He's the only teen I know who would love to have company and not talk at the same time," Rude offered, "Sides, he's as far away from the city as we could possibly get."

Tseng lowered his voice, "Rude...he isn't exactly user friendly. He's bitten and scratched us, shoved me in a hot bath and damn near tore your arms off when you tried to lift him into bed last night."

Rude raised an eyebrow, the kid behind them was a fighter, that was certain. No one knew exactly what had occurred during the seven year missing period but the bald man guessed that it could not have been very pleasant. It had been a struggle trying to get him into the car without him freaking out, in the end, the pair had to resort to once again sedating him.

That did not sit well with the teen when he woke up, he almost caused Rude to crash the car when he kicked the driver's seat with the strength of what seemed like a herd of stubborn donkeys.

The beaten and bruised blonde in the back seat of the car looked at his two escorts, why were they being so nice to him? What where they wanting from him? He didn't trust them yet they seemed to try and want to talk to him.

Any food that had been offered had been left and drinks would be poured onto the ground. The smaller dark haired man had tried to help him wash only to be shoved back into the hot water and ruined his suit.

He wasn't thrilled about having his hands cuffed together, recalling how the small one had said it was more for thier safety than his. They weren't that eager to be bitten or struck when they took him out of the car.

_They're probably taking me to another place so they can do what they like to me,_ he thought as he tugged softly on the cuffs that restrained his wrists, _maybe show me how much they really like me or something..._

_They're lulling you into a false sense of security. Letting you think that you can trust them but really, all they want is to hear you howl in pain. They don't care about helping you, hurt them before they do it to you._

That voice sounded so reasonable, he'd heard the voice when he had lost his faith in the Shinra and anybody finding him before the gang came back again. He knew that the only way he could survive was to kill the other man before they killed him.

"Where...?" the teen whispered softly, unused to using his lips for something other than screaming or hissing in pain.

Tseng turned round, a surprised smile on his face. So the blonde could speak, now they just had to get a name from him so they could at least comfort him when he screamed in the night during his nightmares. One word in two weeks...a single word that hadn't been a scream or a hiss.

"Nibelhiem," Tseng pulled out a travelling guide from the glove box and pointed to a large village on the front of it, "It's pleasant this time of year. Nice and quiet."

_So no one will see what you two will do to me eh?_ the teen nodded slowly, he'd have to escape somehow but they didn't appear to be stopping the car soon.

The bald one looked at him via the rearview mirror, "So, what's your name kid? We can't keep calling you nothing."

"...Sydney Highwind-Reeves," the teen stated slowly, it was weird how he could remember that long name yet he couldn't get to grasps with the pair of names that the two men in front had called themselves.

Tseng held out a hand, a little nervous of how the blonde looked at it with growing suspicion. He said nothing as he took it back, so that was the kid's full name. If anything, now he was a charge of the Turks, they would need to shorten it, to keep him out of the media's attention and to help the kid get over the painful memories that he was having.

That was part of the reason why they were taking him to Hojo, the professor had managed to find a way of finding memories and erasing them so that the kid might actually get a clean slate and start on life.

"Nice to meet you," Tseng stated, "you got a nickname or something?"

"...Cid," came the reluctant reply.

Rude smiled, "Hey there."

Cid lifted his arms up, showing the cuffs to Tseng. Perhaps he could get them to take them off if he behaved himself for a short while, answer some of the mundane questions that they probably had swirling around in their heads.

The dark haired Turk shook his head, he'd seen the world of hurt he had given to the doctor and the security guards when the men had taken off the restraints. It had taken a further eight men to hold the teen down long enough to control him.

"Sorry but we're not stupid. You stay in the cuffs," Tseng gently placed his hand over the blonde's, noticing how they tensed instantly at the touch and gently lowered them back down.

Cid leaned back heavily into the backseat, his jaw twitched in fear. He couldn't do much from his restrained position in the back of the car, espeacilly when they had a metal chain leading from the handle of the farside back door linked into the handcuffs. There was no way that Rude would allow the teen to sit behind him again and Tseng kept turning around every so often just to make sure that the teen wasn't getting up to any kind of mischief.

_You can't keep me tied up,_ Cid shook his head, taking deep breaths as his imagination started running wild. It didn't help the fact that his mind was whispering dark and horrid thoughts in his skull.

Images of the two Turks tying him to a tree and raping him kept flashing infront of his eyes, no matter how hard he tried to push them away. He could almost feel thier hot sweaty hands and breath on his bare skin as they forced him to his knees.

His breaths became faster and heavier as his bdoy responded to the memories and images that was being forced into his mind. The once warm car suddenly became cold and the leather covered seat stuck to the back of his neck as he tilted his head back. A cold sweat raced through his body, he tugged on the cuffs, pulling on some of the bandages that covered his wrists and hands.

"Hey...hey!" Tseng pulled off his seat belt so he could turn round properly, "Cid? Hey...easy now kid."

The teen shook his head, desperately trying to get away from the dark haired Turk. Every touch Tseng tried to make to sooth Cid resulted in the teen crying out softly and batting away the gentle hand.

"Rude, stop the car," Tseng ordered, the slender man climbed into the back seat of the car, biting down a strangled cry of pain as Cid brought his hands up in a fist to the young man's stomach.

This was something that they weren't really expecting, something had spooked the teen. Perhaps they had been a bit to quick on moving the teen, perhaps they should have left him in the mental ward in the hospital for a little bit longer, to allow the medication a chance to kick in.

"Hell is wrong with him?" Rude pulled the car over, listening to the battle of control going on in the back seat. Tseng gave a couple of strangled cries of pain as Cid performed his usual kicks and punches.

Tseng said nothing as he fought to restrain Cid in the cramped space, perhaps talking to him but it didn't seem to be the right answer. The kid had been eight years old when he had been kidnapped and from the looks of it, hadn't been given any love or affection from then onwards.

The car stopped and Rude got out of the car and jogged around to the door closest to the pair struggling in the back. Need be, he'd deck the little scrapper in the back, the teen was going to be more than a little banged up by the time he got to Hojo.

Rude opened the door only to find that Cid had managed to twist himself around in a rather uncomfortable position. The older Turk was sent flying back as the young teen's bare feet connected with his chest, breaking at least two of Rude's ribs on the harsh impact.

"Rude! You alright?" the young Turk called out, he had his arms full with the struggling blonde.

"Yeah..." Rude sat up on the grass, wincing as he gingerly felt around his chest to see if anything else had been broken, "I'm doing okay. You?"

_For thesake of all things holy...chill thehell out!_ Tseng held onto the blonde tightly, praying that he'd either tire himself out or he'd just give up.

"It's like trying to stay on a bucking chocobo..." the young Turk stated, "Little help would be great!"

Rude said nothing as he stood up, it was going to be slightly difficult with that. The kid had one hell of a kick and he didn't want to be on the recieving end of another one. Options were being limited due to the severity of the kid's panic attack.

_Kid's really gonna hate blue suits, all we seem to do is knock him out when he becomes unstable_, Rude headed over to the boot of the car, popping the trunk to gain access to the first aid kit.

The kit was near the top, Tseng had tossed it there after the last fit. Quickly, he filled up the needle with the sedative and carefully walked around to the back seat of the car. Trying to get in close enough was going to be rather difficult.

Tseng had entangled himself quite thoroughly between the teen's limbs. Every move was difficult and if either one pressed or pushed hard enough, bones could broken in numerous places.

"Hold him steady..." Rude grabbed Cid's arm.

"Easy for you to say," Tseng muttered under his breath, he didn't want Rude sedating Cid. They had to gain his trust and sticking him with needles everytime he acted up wasn't going to get that.

"Cid, calm down. We aint gonna hurt you but if you keep doing this," Tseng whispered directly in the teen's ear, "We are gonna have to sedate you. I don't want to do that, you don't either right?"

Cid stopped struggling, shivers raced like water up and down his spine. If they did want to hurt him, then they would have backhanded him and pulled him out of the car. Tseng held onto him tightly, pressing into still sensitive wounds. That only caused Cid to buck in pain, he wanted out of the car now.

No matter how the young Turk held the teen, wounds were being pressed. Cid couldn't get out of the tight grip, his strength not quite up to a healthy standard. The sedatives were not something he wanted either but he didn't want to be in the car. He could see the larger man stay just out of reach from another kick.

He could see the needle, if he allowed this then he wasn't going to be in control of the situation. Those two men could then do what ever they wanted to him and he would be powerless. For a long second, he stopped his struggling, hearing a sigh of relief rush from Tseng's lips as the dark haired man thought the battle had been won.

"Okay..." Tseng whispered, "That's good. We're just gonna sit here for a while, like this. Just til you feel like moving okay?"

That seemed to placate the teen in his arms further, did the promise of even this slight control make him feel better? To Tseng, that made sense. For years, the teen had performed whatever actions his holders had wanted and that had went on for years. Now, he was no longer held by them but was still being pushed around and ordered by others.

As gently as he could, Rude stuck the needle into the restrained blonde's arm and pushed down on the plunger. Cid struggled for as long as he could before the numbing effects of tranquilizer kicked in.

"Rude! He was calming down!" Tseng cried out in surprise, "Cid was just wanting some kind of control in this..."

Rude shrugged, "I'll apologize when he wakes up."

Tseng raised an eyebrow, not impressed with his partner's answer. Cid was breathing slowly, blue eyes closed and his form was relaxed in his arms. There was little he could say or do now, the teen would not be happy when he woke up if he found he was still in the car.

"How long til we reach Nibelhiem?" Tseng started the careful process of untangling himself from the now unconsious teen, he wasn't shy about hiding his disapproval of Rude's handling of the situation.

"Couple of hours," the bald Turk leaned in and began to help his partner, the teen was nothing but skin and bone. How on earth could he kick so hard without breaking bones in his own legs?

He was so light as well, the sedative used would keep him out of trouble for at least half a day because of his physical condition. They could travel to Nibelhiem and get the teen settled in a room with a comfy bed. Perhaps they should turn round and spend some time in Cosmo Canyon, get something to eat or something to read for Cid.

**Nibelhiem Mansion, late night...**

Professor Hojo raised his head when he heard someone thumping loudly on the heavy wooden door as he walked down the first flight of stairs and paused on the landing. Who would be calling at this late hour?

The boy had no friends, no female companions who might want to spend some time with him. None of the villagers wanted to interact or had any form of similair interests. The professor didn't care about the idiotic morons who lived in the village, they would soon fall into line when the Shinra finished builidng their reactor in the mountains.

The door continued to pound, whoever was there, wanted at least one of the residents to wake up and allow them in. The professor walked down the remainder of of the stairs, his book forgotten for at least a few moments.

"Who is there?" he called out as he finally reached the heavy and locked door, as much as he thought the villagers were stupid, they didn't like his or Sephiroth's presence in the village.

The local fishwives would mutter something about him and the boy being nothing but trouble. Though he had heard them talk about the whereabouts of his wife Lucrecia and that blasted Turk Vincent Valentine, many years ago when they had disappeared. He of course played the wounded husband, if only they knew the morbid truth.

"It's the Turks, professor," came the young voice of Tseng, "Would you mind awfully opening the door?"

_I would mind actually...I thought I told the Shinra that I wasn't to be disturbed again by you lot,_ Hojo opened the door slowly, he knew it was a matter of time before the boy would come to see who had called.

_Perhaps I should finally enlist the boy into military school..._he would knock the rest of the elite to shame right now, the lean professor rarely felt pride about Sephiroth and his skills but when it came to intelligence and strength then the boy was far above his peers.

The door revealed the two forms of the usual Turks who would drop by to check on his progress. A third form was being held in the muscled arm bald Turk, the young teen sleeping and not aware of the lateness of the visit.

"New orders from headquarters," Rude stepped forward as he entered the house, he ignored the dark look the small professor gave him.

Hojo eyed the teen in Rude's arms. The lobby lights were switched off but Tseng, ever the practical young man, switched them on and blew into his hands. The professor shook his head at that action, it was the usual reaction that young Turk gave whenever he stopped by. Wutians always hated the cold.

"That boy? What's so special about him?" Hojo crossed his arms, taking a step forward and noticing the cuffs that bound the bandaged wrists. Criminal didn't spring to mind, why would the Turks be carrying him if he was such a dangerous character?

Tseng performed all the talking, "He's the kid that was kidnapped when he was eight years old. We thought it would be best if he got out of the city and give him the chance to relax. This is one of the furthest places on the planet under Shinra rule from the city."

Hojo nodded, so this was the child who Sephiroth had made a conversation about earlier during dinner. Why were the Turks so interested in this young man? They had sent out two of it's best operatives to look after the child, how long would they remain in Nibelhiem? It would be interesting to see how Sephiroth would react to having another young member of the human race in the house.

"Again, what's so special about him?" Hojo gently raised the sleeping blonde's head and noticed the slash that ran across a cheek. Under the lobby lighting, he could see all the bruising on pale hands and most of the way down the child's neck.

The stitching was a rather poor attempt, he'd sort that out later. It wouldn't do to have such pale skin to be marred by an ugly mark. He gave the child another look, he was bare footed in clothing that seemed to be far to big for him. He appeared to be another victim from the slums.

"He summoned a dragon to heal himself after his attackers had brutally raped him and left him for dead," Tseng rubbed his hands together, trying to get some warmth into them.

That caught Hojo's attention, "Dragon? Does he have materia?"

Rude shook his head, the kid was something of an enigma. No family had came forward, nobody wanted to adopt or foster the unsocial child. The man didn't blame them either, he wasn't very friendly. Most days people wanted small children and babies who weren't broken and mentally unstable.

The teen unfortunately, was broken and more than likely unstable. It was a shame, perhaps given the right treatment and the right set of foster parents, Cid would be happy and learn how to trust again.

"No," Rude answered, "it just emerged right out of him and sucked up the life of one of his attackers. The teen isn't saying much about it."

Hojo nodded, that raised the question of what exactly the boy was talking about and how he manage to summon up a dragon. Was he one of the rare races that even the Cetra had thought were a myth? Was he a Dragoon?

The professor dredged his mind for any kind of information on the Dragoon legends of old. Many of them were so old and just were wives tales. Ilfana had spoken abit about them but nothing had been set in stone.

"Where did you find the boy?" he asked.

Rude looked down at the young teen in his arms, "Midgar slums. Tseng found him lying in a pool of blood along with the remains of some of his attackers. I've got the files in the back of the car."

"You said I had new orders," the professor returned them back to the original reason as to why the Turks were standing in his lobby, more than likely the orders had something to do with the boy.

Rude nodded, resisting the urge to yawn. He and Tseng had been up for most of the day. Not getting any sleep from Gongaga onwards, Tseng would nod off every so often only to startle himself awake when Rude would go over a bump in the roadway or if there was any static on the radio.

The young man was still jumpy after his last mission, it made Rude a little wary about allowing Tseng out on his own for missions. Every Turk had suffered thier own fair share of disastrous missions and take it to heart but the Wutian would jump at a car backfiring.

"Yeah," the older Turk shifted the form in his arms, "One of your assistants back in the office stated that you were working on how to erase memories. We think that you might be able to help this young man and allow him to lead a normal life."

He summoned a dragon...that isn't exactly a normal life. Perhaps for the time being I'll amuse myself with this young man, Hojo shrugged, "Fair enough. You know where the guests room are."


	3. mealtime

**Morning...**

Sephiroth tripped over his boots that had been kicked by the door as he sleepily made his way out of his room. Who had been the late night callers that had decided to stop by? Normally, he would have went to investigate but he had been far too tired to even concider that little luxury. He'd settled back down to sleep after a few moments of being woken.

Would Hojo even tell him who stopped by or would the little professor keep that a secret once more? Had it been one of the villagers who required a doctor or just some lost soul?

Yawning, Sephiroth made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. He couldn't be bothered with going to school today, perhaps he should just play truant and borrow Hojo's car to take it out for a drive. Why should he even go to the place that he absolutely loathed?

Voices could be heard coming from the kitchen and Sephiroth instantly recognized them. It was the two Turks, finally, some human company who he could actually talk to. It took him all his will power not to rush down the stairs like a child on christmas day. The young silver haired man smiled broadly as he headed down the stairs.

He wondered why they had came, Tseng would normally either write or telephone the young teen to let him know of the pair's arrival. Sephiroth couldn't help or hide the smile that grew when he thought about the dark haired man. They got on like a house on fire, they were best friends.

It took him a few moments before he reached the kitchen, Rude was the first Turk he had ever encountered in his life. The bald man had never really spoken much about himself before Tseng had entered his life. The young dark haired man seemed to bring out the more socialable part of the older Turk. Though why the pair were up at this hour was beyond him.

"Good morning sleepyhead," Tseng smiled broadly as he sipped on his coffee, seeing Sephiroth looking like he'd been rolling around for a couple of hours was always worth something to amuse himself.

Though he wasn't exactly anything to write home about right now. He was sitting at the table in a loose t-shirt and a pair of chocobo printed pyjama bottoms, normally perfect hair was dishevelled and knotted. Not exactly something to be printed on the cover of the Shinra times as Hard ass of the year.

Rude shook his head with a small smile, his shades sat on the table. Tseng picked at the breakfast that had been cremated by the bald man, a small part of him was wanting to make his own breakfast but Rude had been trying his best to make him feel better.

People always thought the Turks were hardened and cold hearted warriors, who held little care or compassion for others. That was not the case, they actually did feel things for those they were forced to hunt down and kill sometimes. Tseng right now was suffering nightmares from the poor family that had been brutally killed in the slums over two months ago.

Normally such death wouldn't affect him but the young dark haired man had been held hostage along with them for three days. Being tied up and left defenseless as the thugs tore through the home of the family he had been assigned to protect. The killers had left Tseng alone, knowing that they would only feel the full force of the Turks if they harmed him but that left the family open to the vicious assualt.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming last night?" Sephiroth sat down at the table and gladly accepted the coffee that Rude had poured out but passed when what looked like overly cooked toast was offered.

"With all that snoring you were doing," Tseng leaned over to his overnight bag, pulling out another carrier bag, "I'm surprised there's still a roof."

Sephiroth raised a thin eyebrow but his smile remained as the dark haired man handed him the carrier bag. It was filled with the manga comics he so desperately sought. Green eyes widened in sheer awe as he flicked through the pages, he loved being able to read something other than the heavy and depressing novels that Hojo had deemed to be proper reading material.

"Nice," Sephiroth responded, "Thank you."

Tseng stretched his tired and sore arms. Cid had caused bruises on him during the little struggle yesterday and his stomach was feeling more than a little tender today. The blonde was sleeping in the large guestroom but they weren't keen on leaving him alone for any real length of time. One of them would check in on him after breakfast and perhaps take the teen to the local high school in an attempt to help him integrate with others.

"We also have another guest with us," Tseng revealed as he stood up to clear the table, he noticed how Sephiroth stood up as well.

Green eyes filled with curiousity, the Turks rarely brought people out this way. Who had the pair brought with them? Another member of the Turks or was it a Shinra employee who had some business with Hojo?

"Who is it?" Sephiroth asked.

"Been watching the news recently?" Tseng asked.

Sephiroth shook his head, he knew the question was a standard one asked by the Turk. He knew that televisions were banned in the mansion. He hated how out of the loop he was and he missed not being able to talk about the shows.

"Been reading the papers right?" Rude stated, "It's the kid who was kidnapped when he was eight."

The green eyed teen raised his head, the kid who had been in the paper he had read yesterday? Why had they brought him here? What possible good would that do him?

"Any reason for that?" Sephiroth leaned over and picked up his school bag. He placed the banned comics into it and zipped it up safely, not wanting Hojo to find out that he had something that was banned.

"He appears to be more than he looks," Hojo stated as he walked slowly into the kitchen, giving Sephiroth a disapproving glance when he noticed that the teen was still dressed in his pyjamas.

"Should you not be getting ready for school boy?" the professor gave him a dark look as he walked over to the coffee pot, he was not going to explain the boy's tardiness to the rector of the high school again.

Sephiroth lowered his head as he slinked out of the room, silver hair fell into his green eyes but Rude was quick enough to catch the thin lips curse the professor. Where the teen was learning those kind of words was beyond him, perhaps he should read over the books Tseng enjoyed reading himself.

Hojo frowned in disapproval, the boy was learning to many bad behaviours at the local school. Perhaps he should take a few hours out of his plans and teach Sephiroth a few manners. He'd also have some words with the two Turk members, no matter how many times the professor had asked them, they still insisted on behaving with less than reputable manners.

The young Turk would ply Sephiroth with alocohol and the pair would then sit and giggle like idiots for the rest of the evening, heading over to the local inn for dinner and more booze. The older bald one would shake his head but would only interfer if the pair were actually in the process of doing something stupid and dangerous.

Tseng rubbed his left upper arm, unsure if he should perhaps go and get dressed himself. Hojo always creeped him out, the man's eyes constantly watching and analyzing everything they gazed upon. Hojo never really bothered with any form of pleasantries with people who he knew or worked with.

"Ah...I'm going to go and get dressed now," the young Wutian stood up, wanting to get out and away from the Shinra professor.

Rude crossed his arms, he took a slow sip of his coffee and found that he missed the bitter aftertaste of the java back in Midgar. He enjoyed travelling outside the city, taking in all the different sights and sounds of every town and village they visited. His favourite by far was Kalm. So quiet and not so far from the city of Midgar.

"Ever thought about being a little bit more friendly to people?" Rude raised a thinning eyebrow, knowing how Hojo would probably snap at him for making such a comment but it was true.

If the professor was a little more friendly, Sephiroth might be a little bit more friendly to others himself. The pair would really only interact with each other and that relationship was starting to show major cracks. There was a struggle for power in the mansion and neither of the two men would bow down willingly to the other.

"Mind your own business," Hojo hissed as he walked out of the kitchen, how dare that Turk tell him how to act.

If that attitude continued, if the two Turks kept interferring with his plans, then they may suffer the same consquences of the last Turk assigned to the mad professor. Did anybody actually speak of the lost Valentine at the office or even through the Turk ranks. It was an itch that seemed to emerge whenever the blue suited men came to visit.

"Tell me," Hojo paused just out of the door, "Does anyone speak about Vincent Valentine?"

Rude frowned, Vincent Valentine? Who in the planet's name was he? The tone of voice Hojo used meant that the man knew him but wasn't going to be terribly upset if nobody did.

"No...who was he?" the bald Turk poured himself another cup of coffee, unsure if he really wanted to know the answer.

_Nobody remembers you Valentine, just as I promised you all those years ago,_ Hojo smiled as he left the Turk in the kitchen with no answer, _nobody at all even cares! Now, I can do whatever I damn well please and believe me, my dearest Vincent, I will. Why...I think I will actually come and visit you tonight._

He took a deep breath, wondering what he could do to the sleeping experiment in the basement tonight. It had been a long time since he had graced the ex Turk with his presence, he didn't want the man getting to lonely. He didn't want the feeling of pain to be forgotten by the man.

Once, when Sephiroth had been nothing but a young child, the silver haired being had spotted a fading photograph of the professor and two other people standing beside him. To Hojo's left had been a rather pretty young woman in a white lab coat with long brown hair and a rather sad smile on her face. A smiling dark haired man stood a few feet away from a young Hojo, his eyes were focused on something that was just out of the camera's lens.

Hojo had said nothing about the two people in the photograph, only saying that they had been work colleagues and that he didn't know what had happened to them. Also, he had warned the child not to believe everything the villagers said about the work that had been carried out at the mansion.

The matter had been dropped. Vincent and Lucrecia had been resigned to a few notes in his files and notebooks in the basement libary. The dark haired ex Turk being shoved into an elegant coffin and locked away, only to be taken out when Hojo had new experiments thought out. Lucrecia...he didn't know what had became of her after he had left her in the waterfall. Like an angel being locked in a beautifully guilded cage, knowing that she could never again speak or see another living soul again.

Maybe he should go and visit the man in the coffin while Sephiroth was at school and the two Turks would be busy tending to the needs of the young man who was sleeping in the guest room. He would not be disturbed, the two Turks did not know about the secret lab in the basement nor the entrance way to get to it.

**Guest room**

Sydney Highwind-Reeves wasn't sure where he was now. He slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes, the room was something that he wasn't familiar with and the bed he was in was much larger than to what he was used to sleeping on over the past couple of days.

The beds in the city were of varying softness and the one he was lying on made him feel more than a little comfortable. He wanted to roll over for a little bit longer and just forget that the world and the wolves that lived in it existed. His arm throbbed from where the bald headed man had shoved that needle in it and he knew without looking that he would have a bruise forming.

He sat up and felt the pain as the blood rushed from his head downwards. He was alone in the room, for the first time in weeks since he had been found by the Shinra. It was like he was in a home, somebody lived here. Had they found some relatives who wanted to look after him or was this a place where they placed people with no family?

The curtains were drawn tightly in the room and a small bedside lamp was the only light source in the room. A small suitcase sat beside the closed door, a chair and table underneath the window held a dying flower in a classic flower vase.

He didn't know what to do with the space he had on the bed, instead he drew his knees up to his chest and counted the squares on the quilt cover. The room was cool but it was quickly heating up with the large gas heater placed in the far corner.

That told him that he was somewhere cold or the fact that the house he was in didn't have central heating. Where had the men in the blue suits went? It wasn't like them to leave him on his own for any longer than a few minutes yet here he was, all on his own.

A small clink brought him out of his pondering as he realised he still had the cuffs on his wrists and he was bound to the headboard with a long chain. The two obviously thought he was going to bolt if given half the chance to. He slid further down the bed and rested his head on the soft pillow before deciding he was comfier without it.

_Do they honestly think that I can kick the crap out of them?_ Cid thought with a frown, his mind kept going through all the possible escape routes when the Turks came to undo the cuffs.

The silence in the room was more than a little unsettling to him, he was used to the noises of the city. The roar of the trains or car engines revving above him, not the quietness that had befallen him now. A part of him thought that he had lost his hearing but he heard laughter coming out from the window. He wanted to go and look at those who were performing the action, to see what they were laughing at.

Habit had forced him to start chewing on his nails whenever he felt anxious or nervous. He vaguely recalled his parents telling him not to do that, saying that it was bad and that nice little boys didn't chew. His bruised fingers didn't have much of nails, most being torn off when he had struggled for the last time against his attackers.

He was still surprised that he hadn't been killed, he'd allowed the voice in his head control and he had summoned that...what looked to him was a dragon from deep within his soul. The comfort it had provided had been so warm and so safe that he was upset when it disappeared from his sight again. He wasn't sure as to why he had felt that way when the dragon attacked the lead gang member.

Was that why he was being bound wherever he went, to protect others from him? To keep him from summoning that dragon again or was it something more? Were they afraid of him?

A knock on the door caught his attention, then opened slowly. Tseng's head peered into the room and a bright smile etched itself onto his full lips. It was about time the young man had woken up, though he had told Rude off about using the sedative on him. Breakfast had been a wash out as the teen had slept though it, lunch might be a bit more successful.

"Thought you might be a little hungry," Tseng stepped inside and closed the door behind him, "Brought some food up for you. Got a nice selection for ya."

Cid said nothing as he watched Tseng set the tray on the table. The food on the tray smelt tempting, his stomach growled in hungry protest at the possible idea of not eating. His mouth watered but he shook his head. The food might be poisoned or something else done to it.

As much as Cid tried to keep his form passive and non responsive, his stomach growled loudly. It was painful and the cramps threatened to make him double up. He was used to to the pain, his captors from before would leave him all alone with no food or water for days on end. Blue eyes watched everything Tseng did.

The Turk walked over to him, the handcuff keys were being dangled from his middle finger. His movements were slow, not wanting the teen to start another fit. He hoped he was doing the right thing by giving him some options, in the car had been the first time that the blonde had spoken in front of them.

"Here's what I want to do," Tseng sat at the edge of the bed and placed the keys between them, "This is your choice Cid. You can play nicely with me and I'll take off the cuffs. We can sit and have lunch together, sit and chat."

_My choice?_ the idea certainly was extremely novel to him, people never gave him much of a choice in life. All his choices had been taken from him and he had never had the chance to decide anything.

Dark eyes searched almost numb blue orbs, it was interesting to see if he understood what was happening right now. If he really knew that he was finally free of those who had held him, that he was safe and that he could eat as much as he wanted.

"So? Your choice kid," Tseng crossed his arms, glad that he hadn't bothered with putting on the heavy blue jacket. His white shirt tails hung over the waist of his blue trousers.

Cid nodded after a few moments, he held his wrists up to Tseng. Blood had seeped through the heavy bandages, the handcuffs had rubbed agaisnt them. The smells from the tray on the table made his stomach growl harder.

Tseng smiled and picked up the key. He leaned forward and carefully unlocked the handcuffs. He rubbed the teen's wrist but frowned when Cid shivered and tensed at the touch.

"Sorry for what Rude did to you back in the car by the way," Tseng got off the bed and headed over to bring the tray to him, lunch was something of a mixture.

Soup, sandwiches, salad. Tseng had picked up some freshly baked bread and donuts. Sweets and a selection of other foods. What would the teen pick out first, was he a sweet lover or was he more of a savoury kind of guy?

The blonde said nothing but stared suspiciously at the fare being offered to him. It smelt so tempting and his mouth couldn't stop watering as he smelt the bread and the sweetness of the donuts.

The Turk broke a peice of the bread off and took a bite of it, he offered the same peice to the blonde. Hoping to show that it was safe to eat, that the food hadn't been tampered or meddled with. The bread was still warm and it went down a treat, definately something the blonde should try.

Cid shakily held out a hand and took the warm peice Tseng had just taken a bite from and sniffed it. It smelt okay, gingerly, he popped it it in his mouth. He frowned when he tried to swallow without chewing it. It refused to go down and he choked slightly on it.

"Might want to chew on it first," Tseng smiled, "why don't we try the soup next huh?"

Like the bread, Tseng tried it first. He really didn't like tomato soup but it was the only thing that the mansion had. It was one of the things that actually made him sick when he had it. Cid raised an eyebrow when he saw the face that Tseng had pulled when he took a mouthful. The man obviously didn't like that soup.

Tseng held up the spoon with a small drop of the soup and offered it to the teen. Laughing when Cid refused to open his mouth up when the spoon moved closer to him, the blonde really didn't look like he was going to attempt to try the soup.

"It's not that bad. I just don't like tomato soup," the Turk admitted to the young teen, "Come on, just try it."

Cid shook his head, if Tseng didn't like it then what made him think that he would like it anyhow? It looked funny, the red colour...the way the spoon sunk slowly into the bowl when the Turk placed it back, it did not look that appealing to him.

It had been a long and slow afternoon for both concerned when it came to the blonde eating. The blonde had decided that he found that he preferred Tseng wearing the warm soup. The bread hadn't been touched but Cid would eye it up every so often before deciding agaisnt it. The salad and sandwiches lay scattered on the floor and the donuts...the blonde didn't have much tolerance for sweet foods. He'd brought most of the sugarey stuff back up.

The Turk sighed heavily but it had been rather productive afternoon. The blonde was showing a bit more trust and wasn't looking to escape or attack for coming near him. During the afternoon, the Turk had edged closer and closer to him as he tempted him with all the various wares he had.

Tseng looked down at his stained shirt and smiled softly, at least the soup hadn't been hot. The room was messed but it would take a couple of minutes to clean up the spilled food stuff. The bedsheets would need to be changed and the teen scrubbed up before retiring for the night.

That raised an interesting thought, would Cid allow Tseng the chance to help him bath or would it be a battle of wills in order to get him cleaned up. Cid seemed to allow things as long as Tseng had done them first. How far would he allow this to continue for?

_If it doesn't hurt me, then he's relatively up for it_, the Turk guessed, that was a good thing. Trust had been built up between them but building up that trust was proving to be tenious at best.

He took the time to look at the blonde again who was sitting quietly with his hands laced between his legs. Bruises seemed to be everywhere on him, from his fingers right down to his toes. Shakes seemed to curse his grip but Tseng placed that down to the medication he had kicking around in his system.

The slash on his face looked horrible and painful. The stitching looked like it had been done by someone who didn't have a clue as to what they were doing. It was little wonder the blonde never seemed to smile at anything or speak. Perhaps the wound hurt to much when he performed the actions.

Slowly, Tseng raised his hand to Cid's face, the blonde had traces of sugar on the corner of his lips. Tseng gently wiped the remnants away from his mouth and smiled. That must of taken some kind of self control not to lick the sugar or did the teen think that the sugar was something not to enjoy because he had thrown up earlier.

"Sugar," the Turk showed him evidence on his fingertips, pleased that the blonde hadn't screamed blue murder at the touch but had simply remained still.

_Why are you being so nice to me? What the hell do you want from me?_ Cid kept still, a little unsure as to why he was being treated too nicely by the slighty older teenager.

The afternoon had been filled with Tseng's voice. Cid had said absolutely nothing but that didn't really bother Tseng as much. Words would be spoken as and when the teen wanted to and not before. As long as he interacted with them, that was really all that mattered. Perhaps they didn't have to get Hojo involved.

Tseng had taken some form of payment from the teen in the form of almost invisable smiles and the look of laughter in his eyes. Maybe Cid would allow him the chance to actually sort out those horrid stitches on his face.

Tonight would be crucial though, if the teen could settle without the help of any sedatives and didn't scream the house down, perhaps they could take him out for a little fresh air tomorrow.

He leaned back on the bed, getting a view of a narrow back and shoulders from his charge. The hair of the younger teen had been roughly cut into what looked like an okay style when tousled, framing a slender face with thin lips but amazingly sky blue eyes.

_Get a bit of meat on him and he'd be pretty damn cute,_ Tseng crossed his arms and closed his eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the warmth in the room.

He thought for a moment, wondering how Sephiroth would react to Cid. Sephiroth was getting more boisterous and could be pretty damn pushy when getting what he wanted. Was Cid really ready for that kind of personality or would he crumble and allow the silver haired teen to do whatever he wanted with him?

Tseng knew the feelings Sephiroth harbored for other members of the same sex. There had been a few times when Tseng had to pull himself away from going anywhere with the rather amourous teen when they had been drinking. It surprised him as to how far Sephiroth wanted to go with him but the dark haired man kept stating that he wasn't wanting anything more than a friendship with him right now.

Maybe he should warn Sephiroth off the more vunerable form of Cid right now, the blonde sitting in front of him didn't need to be confused any more than he was right now. It wouldn't really be fair on him.

"So...Cid...whatcha want to talk about?" Tseng opened his eyes to see that Cid hadn't moved at all from his position, he knew that he wasn't going to get any kind of responce but that didn't stop him from asking or trying.

He waited a few moments, the blonde hadn't said anything. Not that he really expected him to, he leaned forward and stretched out his hand and gently placed it on a slender shoulder.

Cid span round, striking out at the action and connecting rather firmly with Tseng's jaw. Tseng sprawled across the double bed and blinked for a long second, trying to clear his head. Rude had been right, the kid may look weak but when bitten, the teen had one hell of a right hook on him.

Blood filled his mouth and he swallowed the bitter tasting liquid. He sat up and looked at the startled Cid. Blue eyes didn't know if he should have been sorry or angry at the unasked for touch.

"You're right," Tseng rubbed his jaw, " uncalled for. I'm sorry."

Cid took a shaky breath, unsure if he should say something himself but he felt that he had been in the right that time. Tseng shouldn't have touched him, it wasn't his right nor did he welcome it.

Tseng slid off the bed and started cleaning up the room. His head still span from the punch and he mentally cursed himself for destroying the carefully built trust that had taken all afternoon to create.

He lost his footing and stumbled as his body decided that he had gotten up far too quickly to be healthy. Tseng closed his eyes and placed a supporting hand on the bed until the dizziness had passed.

Surprisingly, Tseng felt another hand on his and he looked up to see Cid stretching over to him. He looked apologetic but didn't move any further than he had.

"Hey, not your fault..." Tseng whispered, he looked at the floor and sighed. Now it was time to clean up the room and get the teen to have a bath, he wasn't looking forward to that right now but it seemed that the trust hadn't been completely destroyed.

_Why hasn't he struck me yet? He's still being nice..._Cid blinked in a confusion, the man's actions still didn't make sense to him. He was used to being punished for being difficult or for striking out at being touched. Why hadn't the bald man came through and stuck him with a needle yet to make him go to sleep?

Everything Tseng had done he'd explained it first and now was no exception. He stood up and smiled as much as he could without his jaw hurting. He had to get Cid into some clean clothes and cleaned up before either he or Hojo sorted out the bandages and stitches.

"Cid, I'm gonna leave you for a couple of minutes okay? I'm just going to get some towels and a change of clothing for both me and you," Tseng stated as he headed towards the door, he watched as Cid picked at the bed covers with little interest but he could see a question of why running through his eyes.

"We're gonna have a bath," Tseng offered with an amused smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Mansion...**

"Where have you been all afternoon?" Rude placed the paper down as his partner walked into the room, he had to stifle a laugh when he saw the state of him though.

Tomato soup was down the front of a normally crisp white shirt and the Wutain looked more than a little annoyed at something. The man's dark eyes offered him a rather annoyed look. Tseng raised his hands up in a exaperation.

"Having lunch with Cid," Tseng stated as he sat heavily down on the bed and he fell back, sighing.

Rude rubbed the back of his neck, lunch? Cid's idea of lunch must have been a little bit different from Tseng's. The blonde must have kicked up some kind of a fuss or disagreement about one of the meals.

"You sure? Looks like it was abit of tussle," Rude offered with a smile, "he didn't like your cooking?"

At that, his partner flipped him a finger. The teenager couldn't see the funny side in that, perhaps the younger teen had pushed him a bit to far in his good graces. He had been rather interested in trying to find out what they had been talking about all afternoon.

"So, what did you talk about with him?" the bald Turk leaned back.

Tseng sat up, "Nothing. He didn't seem to be too interested in talking. Spent most of it talking myself. I've discovered that he doesn't like tomato soup, donuts, sandwiches or salads. Mind you...the only thing that he seemed to be interested in was the bread that had been bought from the local bakery."

Rude shook his head as his partner stood up, "Now what are you doing?"

His friend gave him a pained look, he knew he was going to be in for a possible world of pain when he tried to bath the slender and rather jumpy teen a few rooms down. Tseng raised his head and cleared his throat, hoping to sound far more confident than he felt.

"We got a little messed up when we had something to eat," Tseng admitted slowly, "Gonna give him a bath. Poor kid kinda smells. Could you tell Hojo that I'm gonna need some clean bandages and if he could maybe have a look at the stitches on his cheek."

The older Turk nodded, he could do that. He also didn't disagree with the observation made by Tseng about the kid's personal hygiene status. He'd love to see if Tseng could really coax the kid into a bath or not. So far, the fact that the young Turk had managed to get the kid to eat something even if it was bread, was something of an achievement.

"Seem to have built up a little friendship with the kid," Rude offered with amusement, he was amazed at how easily the teen could make friends and put them at ease so quickly.

Tseng grinned, pride showing in slightly rounded cheekbones. Rude watched him for a few seconds, the teen hadn't really lost all his puppy fat yet around his face. It gave him quite an innocent little look to him, the girls in the office would constantly hover around him, always checking to see if he was available or not.

The man's youngness worked agaisnt him sometimes, especially on that last farce of a mission he had. Rude had thought he had been ready to handle the solo mission but Tseng had freaked out when his charges had been killed. The young man had never been the same since then, tossing and turning in the middle of the nights. Screams weren't an uncommon occurrence now, Rude would wake up to it but he refused to say anything to the teen.

"Yeah?" that seemed to be something that his friend actually found surprising, "you think?"

"You're a people person," Rude raised an eyebrow, "People like you and you seem to get along quite well with other people."

"Let's hope that Cid likes me enough to bath him, huh?" Tseng responded as he gathered up the required equipment for the next mission he had lined himself up for.

He took a few moments to gather up the towels and fresh clothing. He wasn't sure about the size of the teen he was going to be changing, Cid was really quite slender and any casual clothing Tseng had might be too large, even with a belt.

Perhaps Sephiroth might have something that would fit the blonde? He was constantly growing and Sephiroth was thin himself, only recently beginning to bulk out slightly around the waist and shoulders.

_Could always ask him...though at the moment, Cid's gonna go rest after the bath so maybe I can give him a loan of my sweatpants and a jumper._ Tseng rubbed his jaw absently.

Rude grinned, "I'll get the coastguard standing by for you if you're not out within the next couple of hours okay?"

_Nibelhiem High School..._

Shera Fairweather walked slowly down the corridor, balancing the huge and heavy science books in her arms. All the jocks ignored her and the cheerleaders all sniggered when she walked by them. Just because she wasn't as popular or as pretty as the rest of them, they poked fun at her.

Normally, she would just ignore them but the taunts were more frequent now. She hated being one of the new kids in town but at least she wasn't attacked like the others. The unfortunate souls who weren't as lucky as her had constant beatings from the super cool jocksters.

It seemed that the latest target of the month was the quiet Sephiroth. She hated how they picked on him for being different. He was actually a really nice guy to talk to but he gave the air that he would much rather be somewhere quieter.

They were in the same classes sometimes and both had a passion for avoiding gym. They would sit in the gym room when they had handed thier excuses in for avoiding it and would chat about various stuff. It had surprised each other to find out how much in common they actually had.

She hung back as one of the bullies slammed Sephiroth into a nearby locker, watching how the green eyed teen avoided eye contact with his attacker. No body seemed to stand out and help him, thinking that he deserved whatever he got. That was the punishment for being weird according to the high school rule system.

It took all her strength to walk up to the group and she knew she was commiting social suicide by going and helping the silver haired teen. Nobody knew that they spoke, she knew that Sephiroth would never say that she was his friend. He knew that they would start picking on her as well. She caught sight of blood dripping down from his nose, hoping that she didn't become another bullied statistic.

_It's not like I have any friends anyhow. I mean, he's big enough to get himself out of this,_ she thought but her heart screamed out to go and help him.

He was the only one in the school who took the time to talk to her and to be nice. The only one who understood what it was like to move around from school to school and have little to no friends.

Shera bit her lip, her heart deciding that she should go and help him out. What did it matter that she didn't have friends, if she allowed Sephiroth to get beaten up, then she would never be able to really look him in the eye again. She'd be no better than those she loathed for bullying actions and the ones who didn't help the victims.

"L...leave him alone," she asked meekly with as much strength as a mouse.

A group of cheerleaders turned round and looked at her. Surprise was etched onto all of thier fake tanned and heavily made up faces, they were more than a little shocked with the fact that the mousey little teenager had spoken out to this happening.

"What?" the lead jock held onto Sephiroth agaisnt the locker. The science nerd was telling him to leave this freak alone?

"You...you heard," she stammered, her heart thundered agaisnt her chest and she caught sight of Sephiroth's own surprised green eyes.

Sephiroth shook his head, he didn't want the girl getting involved in this. No matter how badly they beat him up, he would be upset if they turned onto the quiet girl. His attacker was at least twice the size of Shera and had a load of friends who looked like they had escaped from the local zoo at some point that day.

Shera raised her head a little higher, "You...heard me. I asked you to leave him alone."

One of the cheerleaders broke away from the group, she stalked over to the slightly smaller Shera. Roughly, the science nerd was pushed backwards. Shera dropped her books and fell flat on her ass. The line had been crossed as far as she was concerned and the little mouse who was new to the area decided to show her claws.

She stood up after the cheerleader turned her back to her, "...excuse me, that...was...was rather rude."

No matter how much she tried to, she couldn't hide the stutter that kept showing in her voice. Public speaking was not something she performed well at. Give her a complex science problem and she could solve it but threats...she was more of a kitten than a tiger.

She was ignored by the girl, a small part of her told her to run like the wind and to tell someone about what was happening. However, another part told her to get stuck in there and kick some ass. To teach the bottle blonde bimbo that she wasn't going to be messed around with.

Sephiroth grunted in pain as the jock punched him heavily in the stomach, another punch forced a small dribble of blood out of his mouth. One of the cheerleaders decided that it was a good idea to perform the same attack on the quiet Shera and that sent the young girl to the ground.

"Hey..." Sephiroth gasped as he was kneed in the stomach, "Leave her alone..."

Shera found the punch to be something really quite painful, not something she really wanted to experience again but would go through anything to help out her friends...friend.

The jock who had Sephiroth pinned to the locker left him alone for a few minutes, turning his attention around to the smaller and weaker Shera. What was the little nerd doing? Why did she have the need to go and help out the rather weird Sephiroth guy? Was he screwing her or something?

The group fell back as he walked through them, enjoying how Shera seemed to shake in her boots. Her eyes had went huge behind the glasses and her bottom lip quivered as she tried to tame her fears.

_Oh god..._the girl thought as he stalked to her, _oh shit...oh shit..._

Manners on how to treat the opposite and fairer sex had obviously been skipped over by the almost neanderthal like thug as he backhanded her to the floor, causing startled gasps from the male groupies but excited hisses from the cheerleaders.

To Shera, it had felt like all her fillings had been dislodged from her back teeth and she was stargazing at a new collection of constalations. Her glasses fell off her face as she impacted with the chequered tiled floor. Why was none of the idiotic jockies coming to her help?

Didn't they know that it was just not done to hit a girl? No matter how much a man disliked a woman, they couldn't strike her. Blood started to fill her mouth as she stayed low. If she got up, then would the thug strike her again?

"You're fucking lucky," the thug teen spat at Shera, "Next time, you won't be if you interfer again."

The cheerleader who had shoved the science fond teen bared teeth and threatened her as well. It seemed that Shera had been classed as something more to the silver haired teen and that made her more of a target. She would no longer be classed as a nerd to be forgotten about, she was prey.

Roughly, the lead cheerleader grabbed Shera by the hair and pulled back. Enjoying the look of fear that flashed through brown eyes that couldn't really seem to focus on anything due to the shaking that was controlling most of the girl's body.

"Hear that? This doesn't involve you, you geek," she spat in her prey's face, "just forget what you saw and you'll be okay."

Shera shook her head, tears threatening to spill over. She didn't want them to see her cry but it was difficult. Every part of her body was tense but she refused to allow the bitch holding her hair the satisfaction of seeing tears flow.

She could see Sephiroth gazing at her with wide green eyes, something had just changed in the ever so casual relationship and it had just clicked in the teenager's mind. Had she now pushed him away for trying to help him? Did he have an ego over this?

"Listen you stupid little bitch," the cheerleader fought the urge to tear her nails down the rounded cheekbones of the kneeling girl, "Keep quiet and we leave you alone."

_Just do what they want,_ Sephiroth mentally whispered to Shera, why was she trying to get herself beat up? He wasn't worth it yet the girl obviously saw something in him that made her want to help.

"Well?" the cheerleader smiled with satisfaction, thinking she had won the fight.

The brunette in her hand shook her head again, sniffing back the tears. She wasn't going to let this bully win, she would stand up to this bully for all those who hadn't. Maybe Sephiroth would finally see her as something more than just a gym skipping buddy, if she showed some backbone.

"...no. Stop picking on him," Shera was amazed at her actions, amazed at how she wasn't going to give up on her friend.

The answer didn't seem to appease the bottle blonde prom queen reject, her blue eyes widened in anger as she slapped Shera across the jaw. She left a red angry looking handprint on an already red cheek.

Both friends seemed to have been saved by the bell, the end of the day had finally came to a close and everybody was now leaving for the day. Teachers and other pupils would be leaving the classrooms. The group who surrounded Sephiroth quickly dispersed and left the pair alone, the group running towards the door.

The two main offenders gave the pair a dark look as they slowly walked away from them. Sephiroth watched them leave, unsure why he had actually been attacked. All he had done was ask the main football quarterback to find another braincell before the one in his head died of boredom. In hind sight, perhaps not the best idea he had all week.

Though why Shera had been targeted for just asking them to leave him alone was beyond him. She wasn't an over bearing sight, she barely had a voice louder than a whisper and wouldn't hurt a fly.

Shera got the her shaky feet, her eyes wide. Wow...she'd just got involved in her first fight and she had came out with little wounds. Okay, she was shaking like a leave and her heart was thundering like she'd just ran to Midgar and back in the space of a minute. Sephiroth leaned heavily agaisnt the locker and slid slowly down the metal container.

"You all right?" he asked her, slightly out of breath.

His female friend said nothing as she gingerly touched her aching jaw, surprised to find blood coming from her lip. So this was how getting hit felt like. Her romance books didn't explain how pain really felt unless it was something a lot more private and intimate.

Most of her books didn't involve the lead female being decked by some trussed up tart. The hero would get beaten up and the lady would tend to his wounds. Mentally, she shook herself. Sephiroth was not going to be her white knight, he barely registered her at times but would be polite when they say together.

She hadn't realised how close Sephiroth had came up to her until he placed a hand on her cheek, she found herself gazing into his green eyes and loved the way how her stomach knotted itself. Maybe he was her white knight from her romances and daydream fantasies.

"You okay?" Sephiroth asked again, a little concerned as to how she was shaking and slightly out of it.

He wiped away the blood that dribbled slowly from her lip, it was so clear to anybody watching that she was trembling like a leaf. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered about a fight going on but with Shera...it had been different. Something in him didn't want her getting hurt and he wanted to protect her.

The brown eyed girl blinked slowly and took a deep breath. Of course she was okay but her jaw hurt like hell. How was she going to explain the bruise that was going to show to her parents?

"Shera?" Sephiroth whispered, "come on, are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Shera nodded, ready for falling into Sephiroth's arms, "You?"

The silver haired boy held back a relieved sigh, "Hmm...little tender but I'm okay."

_You helped me out..._Sephiroth picked up the heavy science books that seemed to be permantly strapped into his friend's arms, _when that arsehole slapped you, you still refused to back away. You could have been hurt, badly because of me._

He avoided her gaze as he carried her books, a strange feeling boiling in his stomach as he looked at her. The feeling he placed down to being punched but another more illogical part of him told him that he was maybe feeling more for her than he should.

Conflicting emotions tore his insides, he wanted to scream at her. Asking why the hell she had done such a stupid thing as to try and help him. She should have just walked on by or spoke to him after the encounter but not to walk right into the mouth of the lion. Another part wanted to pull her close and hold her tightly. To cover her with kisses and to banish the pain away from her pyhsical wounds.

He caught himself there, where the hell did that come from? Yes, they were friends but when had that changed so drastically? They hung out at school and attended the same classes. The feeling he had was growing more and he found himself staring at her when she wasn't looking.

She looked a little like the woman in the picture with Hojo and the other man dressed in Turk uniform. However, her hips were curvier and Shera had a happier curve of full lips. Maybe he should take more time to get to know the girl better, perhaps unburdened of the glasses and placed into more form fitting clothes, the girl could go to from geek to chic in a matter of days.

_And then you would lose her to the nearest jock who wandered by and caught her eye,_ a strangely jealous voice emerged from inside, _keep her as she is. That's what made you get so flustered buster. She's the cute little nerd who you like._

Shera brought him out of his thoughts by punching him lightly on his arm, "Hey! Least you could do is say thank you, you idiot!"

The young female teenager knelt down and picked up her glasses. Relieved at the fact that they had managed to survive the little skirmish with the braincell challenged jocks and the bimbo squad..

Sephiroth opened his mouth to say something but found saying the words of thanks was proving difficult. He caught sight of Shera's behind and again, found himself staring at her. He'd never had to say the words of gratitude to somebody before and found that it was hard. It made it worse when he now realised he had a crush on the girl.

He didn't know how Hojo would react to know that his charge had been helped by a girl. A science girl who wouldn't say boo to a goose but Sephiroth had seen a little fire in her eyes, he had seen how she would fight for something she cared about and that humbled him.

The pair walked quietly out of the double fire doors, unsure as to what they should talk about right now. Sephiroth gazed at the smaller and curvier companion, really unsure as to how he should feel about her.

"How bout dinner? My place?" he was a little shocked to hear himself say that, his body and mouth reacting faster than what his mind wanted to.

The brunette girl blushed at that offer, why on earth would Sephiroth ask that? To be honest, she couldn't believe her ears. Part of her wanted to pinch herself to make sure that it wasn't some kind of dream. She studied his pale face with interest, looking to see if any kind of malice was lurking anywhere in the green orbs.

"Um..." Shera couldn't seem to get her vocal cords to make any kind of sensical sound, "I...I...uh..."

Sephiroth took a deep breath and found himself blushing furiously. The sensation was certainly something he'd have to speak to Tseng about later but he wanted the girl walking beside him to say yes. He wasn't sure but was he actually hoping that she wouldn't refuse?

_He's asking you out on a date you moron! Say something he can understand instead of babbling like an idiot!_ Shera mentally slapped herself and nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

She nodded shyly, "Sure...I'd...I'd love to."

Sephiroth smiled shyly back at her, relieved that the answer had been positive. Now he just had to figure out what teens did on dinner dates and what to cook for her.

"When?" Shera asked quietly, her first date and it was with a guy she actually had a crush on! Someone who was a complete hottie, wait til the girls at the science club heard about this. They would be so jealous of her.

The silver haired teen blinked for a long second, right...girls usually liked taking thier time in getting ready which was completely unfathomable to him. It was something that even the professor was at a loss to explain, stating that it was the female's perogative to do as they please.

People usually did things on a Friday night and would usually cosy up together for a movie after a meal. Perhaps taking her to the local cinema would be in order as well, he found her looking at him with expectant dark eyes.

"Tomorrow night?" he offered.

Shera nodded and smiled at him, he looked so cute as she pulled out a hankerchief to wipe away the drying blood from his mouth. His green eyes widened for a second, frozen as she carefully wiped away the blood from his lips.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. Sephiroth stepped a little closer to the smaller teenager, feeling that he should perhaps show his gratitude for the offered help and her show of strength earlier on a more personal level. Shera blinked, unsure if she should do something.

Slowly, the taller teen leaned forward, taking his time as he gently brushed his lips agaisnt Shera's. He tasted her blood faintly but he didn't push any further. Waiting for the girl to take some kind of lead and wasn't disappointed. He felt her wrap her arms around his waist and pushed a little further in the kiss.

"SHERA!" a voice yelled from a few feet away from them, causing the kissing teens to leap back like they had been struck by lightening.

"Mom!" Shera cried out breathlessly, she gave Sephiroth a rather embarressed smile before heading over to her parent, "I gotta go..."

Sephiroth nodded as he took a deep breath, "Right...I'll see you at school tomorrow right?"

Another blush crept along his date for tomorrow night cheeks, "Uh huh."


	5. Chapter 5

**Mansion, guest bathroom...**

"Damn! That's hot!" Tseng cried out as he fell into the bath for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, his clothes were soaked right through and he was feeling more than a little pissed off at the kid pressed firmly against the wall.

The kid seemed to be really attached to the shirt and joggers the hospital had provided him with and he didn't want to part with them anytime soon. It was so painfully clear that they were too big for him and it only emphazised how small the blonde was right now.

Water flooded up the Wutian's nose as he struggled for a few seconds before he sorted himself into a rough and really uncomfy sitting position in the tub. His legs hung over the side and his hair hung to the sides of his face like rat tails.

_Why the hell did I think that it would go down any other way? He's kicked, punched, bitten and scratched at everyone who's tried to undress or touch him. Just once...just once I would like him to do as he's told!_ Tseng slammed his fist into the water, causing more of the liquid to soak and spill from the tub.

Cid blinked but refused to move from his place agaisnt the wall. He was more than happy to stand there all night if need be. He wouldn't allow the Turk to come anywhere near him right now. The anger was difficult to hide in the dark eyes of the older teenager as he fumed silently in the bathtub.

The Turks weren't known for giving up on difficult challenges, all Tseng could do was to perserver with the blonde and his mission would be successful. Even if he had to hold the blonde down in the bath and turn on the showerhead when they were both in it. The Wutain took a deep breath, getting stressed over it was not helping anyone.

"Okay..." he muttered as he slowly pulled himself out of the bathtub, dripping water as his booted foot touched the tiled floor, "here we go again."

Frustration was slowly winning out as the blonde shoved him right back to his position in the bath. Cid was breathing hard as he gave his soaked keeper a dark and angry glare.

Water went everywhere when the dark haired Tseng fell backwards, anything that had been lucky in being kept dry was now drenched in the clean bathwater. The off white bath rug soaking up most of the liquid but even now, it was beginning to fail at that.

All afternoon Tseng had done nothing but be patient with the teen but his patience was running out. Now, it was running dangerously low and threatened to hit empty if this continued any longer. He knew snapping at the teen wouldn't help anyone but it was proving harder by the minute.

"Why! Why thehell won't you take off theblasted jumper!" Tseng lost his temper and dug his hands into his hair, right now, he really wanted to deck the blonde who stood with blue eyes narrowed.

"You know what?" Tseng sighed after the outburst of swearing, "Do what ya what man...I give up."

The Turk sat with his hands on his knees, taking in the warmth of the water for a few seconds and how cold the air felt on his hands. Why wouldn't the blonde go near the bath? What had the kidnappers done to him to get such a scared reaction?

He lowered and shook his head, wondering if this was some kind of cruel joke the planet had decided to play on him. There was a simplier way of doing the bath, knocking the kid out and bathing him that way but Tseng didn't want to do that. He wanted to help the kid but he could do nothing if the Cid kept refusing the assistence.

Tseng peered at the blonde through his fringe, "If I don't wash ya, then we're going to have to do it somehow. Buckets of cold water tipped over you or we knock you out and scrub you down. What I'm trying to do is the easiest and best way of doing things."

Cid knelt down on the soaked floor, his legs tired from standing. Was he being given a choice again? Even after all the commotion of him shoving his keeper back in the bath constantly, he was still trying to help him. Maybe he should just give in for the moment, allow Tseng what he wanted to do.

The blonde took a deep breath and nodded slowly. He didn't move any further than he had to but hoped that the soaked man would understand what had just happened. A shiver ran down his spine, allowing someone else to touch him was going to prove to be really difficult. Trying to convince himself that the dark haired man didn't want anything from him was proving harder.

Tseng raised an eyebrow, had the battle finally been won? Had he finally been allowed to wash away all the dirt and grim that had built up over the past few days or was he being lulled into a false sense of secruity by the teen?

"Truce?" the Turk asked with caution from his sitting position, slowly, he made his way out of the tub and knelt down beside the blonde on the wet floor.

Cid nodded again, his eyes closed for a second before opening them with tears. It hurt to allow this man control of him but if it stopped him from getting hurt, then he would do whatever he had to.

"I do you do?" Tseng hoped that the eating trick would work just as well in the bathroom. If he stripped and got in the tub first, would the blonde then follow?

Slowly, Tseng unbuttoned his wet shirt. Relieved that he was taking the garment off now, it fell like a stone to the floor, trying to drink up more of the spilled bath water into the material. He then pulled off his boots and socks, wiggling his toes as he noticed how wrinkled they were.

He stopped and looked expectatantly at the blonde. Cid held a breath as he slowly began tugging on the oversized sweater he had been given during the week. The bruised and battered teen was really reluctant on shedding the only warm thing he had ever really had without being given a decent substitute in return. He felt jealous when he spotted that Tseng still had on a white vest.

The sight of a bare chested Cid made the Turk pause for a long second, the bruises looked more vicious and darker around his stomach and upper chest area. Like someone had kicked him constantly there, ribs could be seen clearly, only confirming that the blonde had not eaten anything proper in a long time. However, a small emerald green tattoo peeked out from just above the waist of the joggers. The actual identity of the image was remained hidden.

Tseng peeled off his vest when he noticed the sky blue eyes latching onto it. While he was slender, his ribs were covered by a layer of fat that he wasn't that fussed on losing anytime soon. He'd always stated that he would grow into his puppy fat when Rude teased and pinched his cheeks with an older brotherlike affection.

The dark haired man stood up and sat on the edge of the bath, very wary of the fact that he might get shoved right back into it again. Cid frowned as he edged towards the warm liquid. Goosebumps covered his arms and chest as his body reacted to the coldness that was forming around him.

Tseng placed a warm hand on Cid's shoulder and expected to be decked as soon as he realised what had happened. Cid did nothing, all he wanted was to get warm again. Was the water in the bath, just that? Warm water? Nothing else?

The amount of times Tseng had been shoved into it meant that it was. What had resulted was a rather wet and annoyed Wutian but nothing had harmed him. Maybe a few new bruises from where he had landed and that unpleasant feeling one got when they got water up thier nose.

"Okay...now for the bottoms to go," the older teen unbuckled his belt and unfastened his trousers, he felt self conscious in the undressing. He hated getting changed in front of other people and getting undressed was far worse.

He knew how Cid felt so he went slow and allowed the material to fall to his ankles, revealing a pair of chocobo printed boxer shorts. A blush crept into his face, wondering what kind of reaction Cid would give him when he saw the comical clothing.

"Don't laugh," Tseng tried to hid a smile himself as he stepped out of his drenched trousers, "They were a present from my sister, okay?"

Just hope nobody walks in on this, the Turk thought as he looked at the door and the shivering Cid who was standing perfectly still a few feet away from the filled tub.

Cid felt like his throat was suddenly a good few sizes to small. He didn't want to do this but his keeper hadn't moved to hurt him at all. Hadn't forced him to shed any clothing at all and if he had asked for something to be done, the teen would do it first.

He chewed on his still sensitive lip before hitching a thumb into the waistband of his sweats, he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. Fear wasn't fuelling it, nor did he have it before his capture by the Shinra. It must be the pills that had been forced down his throat by the bald Turk who seemed to have a thing for sticking him with needles.

Tseng sat on the edge of the bath, deciding that leaving his boxers on would be a better idea. He was already soaked to the skin and his boxers meant that they were both saved embarressment. However, the blonde's underwear would need to be shed. He needed to wear completely clean and warm clothes.

The bandages that were covering a large portion of his arms and from the looks of it, waist downwards, would need to be removed and the wounds underneath carefully cleaned.

He stood up and turned around, allowing the blonde some form of modesty to strip down to his own boxers. What he was not looking forward to was telling him that he needed to shed them as well before getting into the bath but that was something they could work on.

A few minutes later, Tseng turned round to see the blonde had done as he was shown and was looking more than a little lost in his boxers. Again, the Turk found himself staring in a little bit of amazement and horror.

The emerald tattoo had more colour than he thought, a vibrant purple could be seen around the head section of what looked like a dragon. It was curled up in a circle and was about an inch and a half big. The eye of the dragon was closed but Tseng couldn't help but stare into it. The small thing looked so cool but the teen infront of him was too young to actually get a tattoo.

The bruises didn't just stop at his chest, they snaked all the way down his thighs and calves. Stitches the hospital doctors had made were speckled across the two appendages. The nastiest of them were focused around the ankle and calve area of each leg. Cid's attackers had really went to town on him.

"What did they do to you..." Tseng whispered softly as he took in the brutality of what another member of the human race had been capable of, what scared him more though was that at the time, lots of young boys were being taken and never heard from again and he could have been one of them.

"Everything..." Cid whispered as he wrapped his arms tightly around his chest, he found himself on a rollercoaster. He wanted to trust the teen but something kept telling him to back the hell away from him. To keep his distance from everyone.

_I can see that..._Tseng took a breath, "I'm sorry. I wish that someone had got to you sooner."

Tiredly, Cid rubbed his face, showing a vunerable side to Tseng that had been thought lost in hell. It showed the Turk that there was still a fifteen year old buried around somewhere in the shaking and scared wreck that his kidnappers had left them to deal with.

_Why? Why should you care?_ Cid chewed on his lip again and moved over to Tseng. What else would he have to lose in order to appease the Turk?

"Gonna have to lose the boxers," Tseng held up a towel, blocking the dark eyes of the Wutain from the more personal area of the blonde.

Cid shook shook his head, being completely naked didn't feel that good an idea. Granted, they were both almost naked and Tseng had gave him some breathing space to strip in but he didn't want to lose the boxers. He would then be at the mercy of the teen.

"Whatever you have, I got a set of my own. I don't have to peek," Tseng tried to ease the tension, "Anyhow, you think I want to be sitting almost naked in a bathroom with a minor?"

_He doesn't want to jump me?_ Cid warily eyed the towel that was hiding Tseng's upper body, the large white and blue striped material never wavered from there.

The smaller blonde edged closer to the bath, he could see the steam rising from the water in the white enamel container. He was shivering without the protective clothing he normally wore. Perhaps he could give the bath a go, if he didn't like it, then he could get out right?

Slowly, he pulled down his boxers, keeping his eyes on making sure the towel wouldn't move from it's position. Instinct caused him to cover his manhood and stood rather nervously waiting for the next intruction.

Tseng raised an eyebrow, if he couldn't see the blonde then how was he going to check to see if he had taken them off? He waited a few moments before he decided to dare a peek.

The Turk quickly took a peek and caught a glance of a bare thigh, covered once more with bruises. It was clear that whoever had captured him had really went to town and then decided that he wanted to buy the country. Every part of the teen's body hadn't been spared from the attack, it raised some questions as to what had been done to him though.

Doctors and the pychologists hadn't been able to get the teen to talk about the attack, thin lips had remained firmly closed. He had refused anybody touching the wound on his cheek and any that had been around his lower body without some kind of struggle.

The two Turks had suffered thier own fair share of the bruises when they had held the teen down on the hospital bed. Rude had growled his annoyance at the kid and had caused a few of the bruises around Cid's ankles.

"Okay, now that the boxers are gone," Tseng stood up as he guided Cid to the bath, the towel had been used to guide him and the Turk had still refused to let his gaze fall any lower.

Tseng frowned softly as he watched Cid climb into the tub. A sharp hiss of pain emerged from the blonde as the warm water covered the stitches at the end of the ankle bone.

Blue eyes widened as he sat down, the feeling was weird and his form seemed to get bigger as the water distorted his normally thin limbs. The water was really warm and pleasant as his body relaxed. He hunched over as he waited for Tseng to do whatever he wanted.

The Turk could count the vertabrae that formed the spine of the blonde and see them clearly. Cid would need to eat plenty of food in order to bulk up and rest to get his strength back to a healthy standard. Old scars seemed to collide into each other underneath the back of his ribcage.

Softly, he picked up a sponge and rubbed the bar of soap on it. So far, getting the blonde into the bath had been easier than the rest of havoc that had been and done. Gently, he placed the sponge on his back and slowly began to rub up and down the blonde's back. It made him feel queasy as he felt the bumps of the individual ribs.

**Later that night, Turk's room**

Rude sat at the table, looking over to the sleeping form of his partner in the next bed. The bathtime adventure seemed to have worn both Tseng and Cid out to no end. The dark haired Turk had returned to the room soaked to the skin, even after changing his clothes with the blonde in the next room. As soon as Tseng's head had hit the pillow, the teen was out like a light.

Rude had searched high and low for the mad little professor all afternoon and had came up with nothing. There was only so many places as to where the man could hide in the house and Sephiroth had stated that he had no idea where he had went to. It meant that the blonde still had in the old stitching on his cheek until Hojo could be found.

The older Turk raised his head and looked at the badly decorated ceiling. Whoever had last decorated the house was needing to be called again.The place smelled of death and failed dreams if dreams had smells. Hope seemed to have been forsaken this little house, people who lived in the old mansion were never the same after leaving it.

How long would the mansion take to stain his and Tseng's soul? It was clear that Hojo's had been warped and twisted by it but Sephiroth seemed to resist it so far. He still had some part of his soul intact, the other part had already been bruised by his caregiver.

Professor Gast would be stopping by to make sure that Hojo and Sephiroth hadn't killed each other, the pair being confined to Nibelhiem for over six months now. Gast's visit was something that had been withheld from Hojo.

Gast was the gentler of the two scientists and Rude had requested to have the older man's presence when examining the boy. All Rude was going to allow was the stitches to be removed and cleaned up by Hojo.

Rude wasn't keen on allowing Hojo any kind of time alone with the kid in the next room. The scientist was known for his lack of social skills and his severly lacking bedside manners. Tseng had been trying so hard all afternoon to get Cid to talk and open up, it would be very frustrating if Hojo ruined that work.

The bald headed man stood silently and walked out of the room, taking one last look at his crashed out partner. A smile graced his face, so young and so innocent in regards to the horror that he would be commiting as he furthered himself up the ranks of being a Turk. Missions would be more dangerous and people would need to be killed to protect the Shinra.

He slowly opened the door to Cid's room and peered in. The bedside lamp had been left on and Rude could see the blonde was sleeping. A pillow was held tightly to chest and the bed covers were tossed onto the floor.

_Poor kid..._he thought as he leaned agaisnt the door frame. He had listened as Tseng had described the bruises and cuts on the male teenager.

It had made him sick to his stomach, rape was bad enough to hear about but raping an innocent child...that caused the normally cool and steady man to lose control and pound the sick pervert to an unrecognizable pulp. Cid's attackers had been lucky, if they had survived the attack, they would have dealt with the Turk's number one assassian.

"Kid, the world is a pretty cool place at times," he whispered into the room, "Just a pity that you saw the worst of it for a long time."

A surprised and startled cry brought him out of his watching of the sleeping Dragoon, Tseng! Quickly, he closed the door on Cid and returned back to his own room. He entered to find a very awake and frightened younger Turk with tears threatening to spill down his cheeks.

Tseng's breath caught in his throat every time he tried to stop a sob from escaping his lips. Nightmares had came back with a vengence and the medication that he had been prescribed with to stop them, hadn't been taken.

He gripped the covers at the side of his knees and leaned over slightly. Cold shivers raced through him and he didn't push Rude away when the bald man sat and held him in his arms. A small part of him wanted to grab the medication bottle in his bag and just chew them all in one go. The nightmares were too terrifying and he hated sleeping at night now.

The young teen grabbed onto Rude and buried his head into his shoulder. The older Turk felt his shoulder go moist as the tears fell from Tseng's eyes. Rude found that he wanted to chide the kid for not taking his meds but the more compassionate side of him stated that it wouldn't be the best of ideas. If anything, he should be trying to get the kid to open up and talk.

Maybe being a Turk isn't the greatest of things for him to be...he's still young and way to trusting of the world, Rude shifted his weight on the bed, allowing Tseng to sit more comfortable.

"Hey, it's okay," he offered softly, "Just a bad dream is all."

Tseng's chest hitched as he tried to speak, "No...it...wasn't. It...happened."

Rude didn't need to know what the teen was referring to. It was the one thing that he had been having nightmares about for the past couple of weeks. The last mission he had went on. The teen hadn't spoken about it since it happened and he would brush it off whenever it was mentioned in conversation.

The office shrink had told Rude that the Wutain was trying to surpress what had happened to him and it would only cause more harm than good. She could tell him to take the meds but short of forcing them down his throat, nothing would make him take them.

"Where's your meds?" Rude asked softly, hoping that his friend had remembered to bring them along otherwise, he'd have to ask Hojo for a sedative for the young man.

Tseng sounded muffled, "In my...bag. Left...them there."

"You aint been taking them have you?" the older Turk shook his head as he carefully manuvered himself off the bed while still keeping one arm around his shaking friend.

He didn't need to see the look of shame that flashed for a few seconds on the teen's face. Rude knew that he hadn't been taking them but couldn't prove it so he hadn't confronted him with the accusation. Perhaps he should send the young Turk back to Midgar and get him to see the shrink again. He knew however the arguements that would cause.

"How bout we forget that you haven't been taking them and try one of them now huh?" Rude pulled out the small bottle and handed it to Tseng, why did the teen not bother with them? Surely he knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep without them.

"You're...not pissed off?" Tseng meekly asked as he sniffed back tears, opening the bottle was proving difficult. His hands kept shaking due to his emotions still running high from the nightmare.

"What would that do?" the bald one stated, "Just take them from now on okay?"

He waited until the teen had swallowed one of the white tablets and then gently pushed the him back onto the bed. Tseng sniffed and blinked. Rude could see how embarressed the young teen was but Tseng wasn't about to spill all about what had really occurred back in Midgar.

"Go to sleep and we'll talk about this in the morning," Rude stated as he pulled the covers up around the Wutain, "I should report this but I aint going to. You've been through enough and work is the only thing that is keeping you going right now."

Something told him that he should go ahead and inform headquarters about the growing instabilty of his partner in crime but he didn't want to. Tseng seemed to hold it together during the day and it was only at night when he seemed to lose the grip.

Tseng pulled a face in mock annoyance at the younger brother treatment, though as much as he hated Rude playing older brother to him, he found that he really didn't want it to stop anytime soon. He understood that the older man should report back the Midgar but wasn't going to, if he kept taking his medication.

"...have I been that bad?"

Rude said nothing as he gave his friend a comforting smile. Keeping it together after what he had been through was a pretty amazing thing but the body does weird things when it sleeps. Dredging up memories best forgotten in a vain attempt to deal with it via dreaming. It was just a matter of time before the young teen would grow used to the screams and death of his job.


	6. Chapter 6

**Secret Lab, basement level**

Hojo peered into the green glassed container with a frown. For some reason, the experiment was taking far to long to bind with the host. He tapped the glass with his pen and was taken back when two red eyes snapped open at him.

A soundless scream emerged from pale lips from the man inside the container, nothing could be heard. The almost pale green liquid that filled the heavy glass barring all sounds from emerging. Not that it would bother him if he had heard. It had been a while since he had last played with the dark haired man inside, a smile graced the professor's lips as he stepped forward.

_How much longer will you fight the chaos that is trying it's hardest to take over you?_ he thought as he sighed with content, _just allow this to happen and you will be released from the prison you're in._

He held little interest in trying to destroy what little remained of the man's soul, he was now far more interested in bonding the new alien cells into the slender but mutilated body being held by the almost glowing crystal green substance. No matter how hard he tried to fight the changes going on at full force in his body, he would lose time and again.

Soft moaning drew him away from tormenting his experiment for the moment, it seemed the boy was slowly coming to. It had been a good few hours since he had been drugged and dragged down here, a little to long for the boy to shake off the sedative. Interesting.

During the examination of the teen, he had discovered some new bruising around his jaw and stomach. Had someone at the local school decided that Sephiroth had been an interesting challenge or had he gotten into a fight himself over something? Had it been the boy fighting, Hojo would have been summoned to the school to say that the boy would be punished.

Hojo walked over to the cold metal table Sephiroth was laid on and picked up a needle. The boy did not need to see the laboratory, he was already an impudent child already and he was proving rather difficult to control. The Jenova cells in him seemed to have given him great strength and recovery but lacked in making him docile enough to control.

The silver haired teen gave a soft sigh and another moan, green eyes threatened to flutter open and ruin Hojo's plan's of keeping him asleep throughout the ordeal. Hojo filled the syringe with the sedative and rather roughly stuck it into the large vien on the inside of the teen's elbow. It took a few seconds for the entire contents of the needle to be emptied.

"Another innocent who you have to watch suffer," Hojo voiced into the air, knowing full well that the man who it was intended for could not hear him.

Sephiroth did nothing but the professor watched with little passion as his body relaxed. The sedative working quickly through the young form it was injected into like a virus, green eyes remained closed and his moans become soft relaxed breaths.

Regret would threaten to rear it's ugly head once in a blue moon in the dark and dank pit that was Hojo's heart as he watched the young male like that. Silver hair had fanned out like a halo and it gave Sephiroth an almost angelic quality to him. The teen's look was so different from the other experiment, green eyes and silver hair. The poor soul in the tank had dark hair and red eyes.

Hojo raised a hand and gently traced a few patterns on the teen's chest, the skin was soft and it seemed to respond quite well to the touch. With his free hand, he stroked the teen's face, taking in a beauty that few people would ever really see. Perfect lips, eyes, cheeks...everything. There was no traces of his mother and little of his father in the teen's looks.

He hadn't expected Sephiroth to look anything like them though, the alien cells in his body had done a good job of masking all types of identification or DNA to link him to anyone on the planet though, that was a good thing. Hojo had made sure of that, nothing could be traced back to him.

Sephiroth would be shipped off to Midgar come the next summer, Hojo had finally decided that the boy was ready to show off his skill in the Shinra Military Academy. President Shinra now wanted to see the results of the secret project that had been funded for and he would finally see what Sephiroth was made of.

So perfect in everyway. The boy doesn't realise just how perfect he truly is, Hojo leaned forward and kissed the teen's forhead tenderly. He caught the smell of shampoo and soap, Sephiroth must have just came out the shower when the sedative had finally kicked in after the late evening meal.

The professor's lips continued to lightly dust the unconscious male's face, nervously reaching partly open lips. He paused for a second, should he commit the sin? Should he take a taste of the teen, he knew he would never get a chance to when Sephiroth was wide awake and he knew that the man in the container was more than likely envisioning ways of ripping out his throat while he slept.

That seemed to be the deal clincher, slowly he stood up and walked around the table. He wanted the restrained man to watch every move and action that was going to be performed. The professor smiled when red eyes narrowed in anger and uselessness.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Hojo whispered as he lightly traced the contours of Sephiroth's lips and nose with his fingers, "having complete control over you...and you not being able to fight back."

_How should I take you?_ he thought as he kissed under Sephiroth's jaw.

Sephiroth's night shirt covered most of a honed body, baggy pants hid long legs. It was rare to see much of the flesh that was constantly hidden by long shirts and baggy jeans. Fading remnants of a tan was still showing on his skin but the longer the teen stayed in the cold air and sky of Nibelhiem, the more the tan would fade.

He opened Sephiroth's shirt further and he took his time tracing the stomach muscles. He pulled down the shirt and kissed the exposed shoulder flesh, so soft and tender. Oh, he was going to enjoy this so so much. Every taste, smell and touch of the silver haired angel lying on the table.

"So beautiful...soft and tender. Almost angelic," Hojo whispered again as he felt himself get dizzy with the thought of performing such an illegal act on the boy.

Kissing soft lips made the professor feel something stir in his lower regions. It seemed that Sephiroth had more power than he gave him credit for, who could resist the sleeping form? Such strength and such power that waited to emerge from it's dormant prison.

_Taking you when sleeping doesn't seem to be that much fun..._he lowered his head while licking and sucking the smooth warm chest, paying attention to the young male's nipples.

Could he really risk having Sephiroth semi consious during the session? If anything, the alien cells that were racing through his system might get rid of the remaining drugs out of it. He knew that he could make Sephiroth feel things that the silver haired teen would never admit to or want to think about when he was with the professor.

Gently he pushed open the boy's lips and licked them before darting his tongue in to taste the boy. He closed his eyes and forgot that he was being watched by the dark haired being stuck in the liquid prison.

_The only time when I really want you is when you are sleeping boy...when I have you in my control. Where you cannot fight me or attempt to resist_, the professor smiled as he kissed Sephiroth with more passion.

A shrill ringing noise stopped Hojo suddenly, causing an annoyed growl to emerge from his lips. It seemed that he would not get the chance to play with the boy after all, fate deciding that the innocent would stay that way for the moment.

He stalked over to the small black cell phone and gazed angrily at the unwanted caller's name. Rude...that damn Turk was wanting him for some reason. He didn't want to answer it but he knew that if he didn't, the bald headed man would come looking for him and possibly ruin the little fun he had in this wretched town.

"What is it?" he spat as he hit the answer button.

"Where are you?" Rude's voice didn't sound to friendly either as he copied the professor's hiss.

"It's none of your business. Why? What's the problem?" Hojo shook his head, clearing it of the fading taste of Sephiroth's skin.

"You're not in the mansion. I thought I had asked you to look at Cid's stitches. They need to be changed," Rude sounded so much like the trapped man in the container at times.

So arrogant and confident of his own abilties. Thinking he was far better than the rest of those he worked with. Completely the opposite of the young man the ever wise Shinra had placed him with.

"Fine...I'll be there within the next half hour or so," Hojo frowned, living in the house for as long as he had had finally proven to be worthwhile. He knew all the secret ways in and out of rooms and knew what ones connected to the secret basement.

"...Alright," was all Rude stated when he hung up the phone.

Hojo turned and looked at the man in the container, "It seems that you still have friends in high places Vincent, though Lady Luck may have forgotten what you look like, she seemed to have favored you this one last time."

**Later that morning...**

It felt that he had thrown up the entire contents of his stomach and now his body was trying to vacate the internal organs now. He dry heaved painfully and tears streamed down his cheeks. He hadn't been this ill for years and his entire body hurt.

His joints seemed to scream in pain whenever he moved them slightly, his head throbbed with a sharp stabbing pain and all he wanted was to crawl back into bed and forget that he had school that day.

He gripped onto the sides of the sick and pushed himself upwards, Hojo would not be happy if he took the day off. The man would state that there was nothing wrong with him and that he was justs trying to play hookie from the educational facility that day. Sephiroth knew he wasn't and so would the two Turks but they all knew better than to argue with the professor.

Why did he always feel so ill after having Hojo cook his meals? It didn't happen all the time but at least once every month, it seemed to just knock him for six. His entire body seemed that it was trying to get rid of something that shouldn't be there.

"Hey," Tseng called through the door, sounding more than a little tired himself that morning, "Seph? Time to get up and face another day of wonderful schooling."

Sephiroth closed his green eyes and prayed that he could just pull himself together just long enough to get dressed. School was not going to be that much fun, the bullies from yesterday were going to be waiting for him to continue on from yesterday. He would need to avoid Shera until that tonight when he would take her out.

He didn't get a chance to finish the thought of Shera when his body decided that it hadn't like the last breath that had been taken by the silver haired teen and gave him a rather painful dry heave.

_No way...this cannot be happening..._he cried out mentally, _I have a date tonight and this happens!_

"Seph?" Tseng knocked lightly on the door, "You okay?"

"...yeah..." Sephiroth managed hoarsely, his throat felt like sandpaper and it swallowing was like he was taking mouthfuls of acid.

Tseng knew the teen was going to take his time in getting ready for school. He hadn't really had the chance to sit and talk with him but because of Cid, he hadn't had the chance. This morning, he would take some time out and drive the slightly younger teen to the building.

Having a brief five minute hello yesterday morning wasn't much of a conversation and Tseng hadn't really seen how the teen was feeling. He was slightly tired looking but Sephiroth seemed to look more paler every visit. Was it due to the weather or was it something else? Something that he was missing.

"Well, be downstairs in half an hour and I'll drive ya to school okay?" Tseng called as he walked away from the bedroom door, at least for a few hours, he would have the chance to sit and talk to someone who had the same interests as him.

Sephiroth opened an eye and peered at the doorway, he was being driven to school by Tseng? Great...he felt like sin and a potential crush was going to be taking him. Pain seared through his stomach again as he attempted to stand up, shaking his head was not something that was a pleasant chore and he avoided the action.

He used the wall as leverage and as a guide to the shower. Making himself respectable was going to be really challenging, perhaps the sickness was just a case of really bad nerves on the upcoming date with Shera tonight.

_Impossible...I've been on dates before, when I was in Midgar. Hell, when I had sex for the first time, I wasn't this nervous. Can't believe I'm throwing up on today of all days..._slowly he turned on the tap and watched the flowing water drain down the plughole. It seemed to take a lifetime before the water heated up enough for him to strip down and step under the pressurised water.

As he peeled off his nightshirt, he noticed a large ugly forming bruise on the inside ofhis elbow. That hadn't been there before he went to bed last night and the thugs hadn't attacked him there either. It was a mystery but again, like all the other times he encountered one, he pushed the feeling down. He must have done it in his sleep.

He raised his hand to his forehead and felt a small bump trying to rise from his temple. Forgetting the running water for a few moments, he headed over to the mirror and wiped it clean of the mist that had formed on it.

The new lump was visible if he moved his hair from his temple, nobody would be able to detect it unless they were up close and personal to him. Even then, only if they moved the hair, perhaps he should go for a goth look today, just to stay under the radar.

_Shit...it's gym class today..._he sighed heavily and took a deep breath, he could only avoid the class for so long before they started calling Hojo and asking why the child was not performing in one of the mandatory classes.

Sephiroth gave his upper body a quick glance and discovered some new bruises. They seemed to be spreading like a plague, focusing more along his chest and upper arms. He slipped out of his bottoms and checked to see if his legs and calves had any damage to them. Thankfully, they hadn't.

He stood under the shower head and closed his eyes, trying to forget the fact that he was going to be enduring the act of the cross country mile later that morning. All those jocks waiting to slag him off, waiting to jump him after school had finished.

_Wonder if Shera will be doing gym..._the thought of the young teen seemed to lift his spirits slightly, surely her parents would get suss if she kept refusing like him.

"Better be up, you've got school," Hojo called through the door, his voice indicating that something had annoyed the hell out of him and he was not going to be pleasant to talk to at all for the next few hours.

He hated the institute, hated the morons who would pick on the weak and those who were different. Why the hell was he dragged to this backwater village in the first place? He had finally managed to tell the jocks in the Midgar boarding school that he wasn't to be messed with when Hojo had stated that they were moving.

_Yeah I'm up...feel like shit but hey, who cares right? As long as it doesn't disturb the little mad professor that's all that matter right?_ Sephiroth shook his head, as if he could shake away the feeling of being so sick.

**Mansion, later that morning...**

Hojo walked through the upper levels of the mansion with his small black bag filled with a selection of needles and other medical assortments, he had to attend to the young visitor in the guest room. Rude was out collecting the idiot professor and the young Cetra woman, his young partner Tseng was somewhere but he was unsure where.

The young blonde hadn't left the room he had been placed in since he arrived and Hojo was looking to check out a few of the teen's wounds. Rude had done nothing but harass him about checking out the nasty slash across his cheek since last night.

He stopped at Sephiroth's door, the young male was sleeping in there. Tseng had brought him back from school about an hour after it had started, the boy complaining about being violently ill and of stomach cramps. Reluctantly, the scientist had agreed to allow Sephiroth to stay in bed after noticing himself how pale the boy looked.

Perhaps he had used to much sedatives last night or the cocktail of drugs that had been forced into a system already drowning in chemicals that had caused this reaction. The solution could be as simple as the food he had cooked last night had simply disagreed with the ill teen.

_I'll check on the boy first,_ Hojo entered the room of his charge, noticing instantly the form huddled underneath the covers.

"How are you feeling?" he asked with little genuine sympathy or concern to the teen.

Sephiroth gave him a weak moan, not wanting to do or say anything that would cause his stomach to expel anything that was supposed to remain inside his form. His stomach felt like someone was stabbing hot and sharp needles in it. All he did was wrap the covers further around himself and huddle further into it.

Hojo raised his head and went over to the bed, he'd give him a quick examination, to make sure that it was nothing too serious. He pulled the covers off his patient and shook his head when Sephiroth pulled it right back over him, not wanting to be any colder that he was.

"Such a child..." Hojo muttered as he once again removed the covers from Sephiroth.

Quickly, Hojo caught Sephiroth's wrist and was slightly concerned when he felt how hot they were. A fever seemed to be raging through the silver haired teen, perhaps the illness was more serious than he was giving him credit for. It was possible but the alien cells that were wrapped around the young adult's DNA should have taken care of the virus or bug that he had picked up.

"For once boy, I don't want to hurt you," the professor laid the small bag silently on the heavily carpeted floor and sat on the edge of the bed, "Sit up, I want to give you a quick once over."

Sephiroth seemed to do as he was told and painfully sat up on the bed. Warily, he allowed the professor to place the thermomiter in his mouth, he wasn't thrilled about the sudden concern for him. A small part of him told him to watch out, that it was something the mad little professor had done to him but as usual, he just placed it down to his fevered mind playing on his paranioa.

Hojo said nothing as he waited a few moments, playing house doctor was not something he performed at all but the boy was sick. What had he eaten since last night? Had he drank something or was this a genuine complaint and not a feeble excuse to get out of class?

"Have you eaten anything that you shouldn't have? Drank or been anywhere unusual for you?" Hojo tookhis temperatureand was a little surprised to see that it had risen, the boy had a did have a fever.

Sephiroth shook his head and sniffed. All he had last night was the rather funny tasting meal Hojo had laid out for them, it couldn't have been the food. Hojo was walking around okay and they had eaten the same thing. Perhaps it was just a stomach bug on the worst possible days. He didn't want to cancel the date with Shera but there was no way he was moving anywhere.

"Nowhere and nothing," Sephiroth closed his eyes and fought back the sickness that kept trying to creep upwards through his stomach, "It's just a stomach bug right?"

The professor gave him an ackward smile, soothing children who were sick was not something he was rather comfortable with. As much as he found himself angry with the boy at times, he did feel paternal and concerned on the odd occassions. He took out a small needle from his bag, a small dose of sedatives mixed in with a little bit of Jenova cells and mako.

He knew that the silver haired teen was going to be slightly annoyed at having a needle stuck into his arm when he wasn't feeling that well but as Hojo felt conciderate to him, he actually performed the injection with as much care as he could.

"Keep drinking fluids and keep yourself warm," Hojo pulled the covers up around the slender teen and pushed the teen gently back, "I'll check on you later. I have another patient I have to attend to."

The young teen snorted in mild annoyance but found that he was drifting off slowly into a nice warm oblivion, "...why...did you...but I'm goi..."

Hojo stood up as Sephiroth trailed off sleepily, green eyes tried to open a few times and blink away the drowsiness that was fast in taking him but it was a rather pointless attempt. It took only a few moments for the sedative to work, when the teen awoke later, he should feel stronger.

The professor left the sleeping teen and headed over to where the Midgar slum teen was residing in. A chance to examine a possible Dragoon desendant before Gast became involved and before the Shinra knew exactly what they had in their hands as well.

Warnings from Rude had told him that the blonde had a rather nasty aversion to needles and was very jumpy of strangers. Asking him questions would be pointless as the teen wasn't speaking to anybody since the one question and the confirmation of his name in the car before they had came here.

In his bag, he held the files that told him everything about how the teen had been found. Blood samples, DNA reports and other phycological reports had been detailed but because the teen was refusing to speak to anybody and hated being touched by anybody, the files were rather sparse. He had heard the commotion that had went on last night when Tseng had tried to bath the Dragoon.

Curses in Wutian and in English had came from the lips of the Turk, why he hadn't knocked him out and washed him that way was something of a mystery to him. Most people would try the easy route and just give up when it became to hard to cope with him when he was awake.

The file stated that the teen slept very little and hated people trying to touch his face. It was going to prove difficult if he was to check out the stitching but he could always knock him out. That idea was tempting. The chance to perform a more detailed blood work and examination, the prospect of someone being able to summon a dragon to heal was certainly interesting.

Legend had it was that the Dragoons could leap far in the air and were skilled with their hands. Mentally, they were relaxed but they were a race who dreamed of travelling to the stars where they had came from long ago. Reports long ago stated that the race had resided in the Cosmo Canyon area and the last group of them had went off to find a way to defeat an enemy who had fallen from the heavens they cherished so much but they had failed.

He stopped when he reached the door and knocked loudly on it, the teen should be awake but it was possible that he wouldn't be. Slowly, he entered the room and was surprised to have a boot thrown at him as he came in.

Blue eyes narrowed in suspicion as Hojo stood at the door, this was a new stranger and he dressed like the men back in the city. Doctors who took endless blood filled tubes from his body and tried to make him perform the healing dragon summon. The teen found that scientists and men in white coats were not to be trusted as far as he was concerned.

"Good morning," the professor put the bag down on the carpet, "I'm here to check on those wounds you've managed to aquire over the weeks."

The teen said nothing but he scooted further across the bed to get away from Hojo, distrust was clearly visable on the pale face. Bandages were needing to be changed on the young blonde and some of the butterfly stitches had came undone.

Already, Hojo was quickly deciding what he was required to do. Getting the cooperation of the Midgar refugee was going to be difficult, almost impossible if Tseng wasn't around to placate the jumpy and distusting teen.

The boy was slender and small. Smaller than what most healthy teens would be at his age but if the kid was a Dragoon, then his height was going to be an asset rather than a liability. Ilfana had said that most Dragoons were small in stature but they held themselves with such pride and grace that it was often easy to think they were taller than they were.

He looked out the file quickly, trying to ascertain the name of his new patient and was rather surprised to learn that it was a double barrelled name. The boy was obviously of a well to do family so why had the Shinra thrown him out here? The Highwind-Reeve family had been held in high esteem in the Shinra board, the head of the family had been close to various high ranking officals.

Was it because of the mental damage that had occurred to the child during the years he was missing? Was no distant family member wanting to step forward and claim the rather large inheritence that would come when they took care of the child?

"You know," Hojo stated as he pulled out some medical thread and needle, "You're something of a fascination. A Dragoon...even rarer than the Cetra actually. Did you know that?"

Cid watched the professor's hands dip back into the small black bag and pulled out a bottle of something. He found that he didn't like this guy, he was more than a little creepy. Where was the guy who usually came in to help him out?

Hojo took the silence and wasn't that concerned about it. Perhaps it would be better if he knocked the kid out, he wouldn't have to bother about the annoying small chat or having things thrown at him for no reason.

He had caught part of a conversation with the two Turks earlier that morning about the panic attacks that would take hold of the blonde if he was left alone for any length of time or if something scared him badly enough.

Cid hadn't realised how close he was to the edge of the bed until he fell off it. The sudden distraction of attention meant Hojo could get closer to the teen without much hassle and inject him. It would be far easier to perform the tests he wanted. A nice batch of freshly brewed Mako and Jenova was waiting for someone to be placed into it.

A quiet cry was heard as Cid felt the needle prick his shoulder, instinct had taught him to lash out and to kick at anything within reach. This was no different, he took a primal satifaction when he heard the man in the white coat grunt in pain as he fell backwards onto the bed.

Hojo frowned as he stumbled back, the teen had strength in his legs but he would just need to wait a few moments to allow the sedative to finally kick in. He should have perhaps listened to the Turks who had escorted him in to the mansion.

The sedative worked it's magic and the struggling bundle soon eased up and became more malable. The professor would have to work fast if he was going to move the teen to his lab and to work a few non sanctioned tests on the slender boy. Hojo raised an eyebrow, he could use the teen in the further tormenting of Vincent Valentine.

Vincent would loath the fact that Hojo had his hands on another young male, all the former powerful Turk could do was watch as the professor performed the experiments and whatever else came across his mind.

_Perhaps tonight I will allow Vincent out of his prison for a while..._Hojo knelt down and checked to see if the blonde was out for the count, _show him that I am his master now and he will do anything I command._

It took him a few seconds to find the entrance in the covers that gave way to the Midgar refugee. A mess of blonde hair was the first he could see and he outstretched his hand to feel it. He was surprised at the softness of it, it seemed that Tseng had been successful in washing the blonde last night but he hadn't attempted cleaning up the stitches.

He gently removed the covering from the blonde's face and stared at him for a few long seconds. If the scar was not concidered, then the young Dragoon could be thought of as quite pleasing to the eye. Cheekbones and a strong jawline for someone so young, he wasn't that disimiliar to Sephiroth in build but the blonde teen had more of a naive quality to him that still remained after all those years of abuse.

The child looked to frail to go through anything that Hojo had planned down in the lab for him right now but that would not stop him from getting him tied to his table and being studied like a labrat. However, he would have a small amount of fun before the drugs wore off.

Quickly and elegantly, he undid the stitches on the wounded cheek and decided that they would be better left off. The slash seemed to be healing from when it had happened and it may leave a thin scar that ran across the cheek but it would really only be visable to those who knew it was there or if someone was nose to nose with him.

Like the stitching, he removed the bandages and found that they had fared a lot worse than the cheek. Large nasty looking cuts were criss crossed up his wrists, a freshly cut scar snaked it's way around his left arm. His right arm seemed to have fared better but bruises were clashing, the boy either knew how to fight or someone had kicked the seven shades out of him before deciding that he was no longer worthwhile to have along.

He must have been used as a plaything by his captors. They thought he was quite the looker as well before they decided to cut his face, Hojo replaced the dirt and blood stained white medical coverings with fresh ones before leaning over and giving his patient a rather soft kiss on the corner of his lips.

Hojo gently traced the the cut that covered the young males cheek, the skin around the wound and on the male was surprisingly soft. When he had saw the teen in the dark lighting, he expected the skin to be tough and the child to look older than he was but the opposite was true. Was it the Dragoon heritage that was allowing the youthful skin or was it something else?

"Professor Hojo?" You up here?" Tseng's voice could be heard coming from somewhere down the hall.

He lifted Cid up from the floor and placed him on the bed. Cid was slighter heavier than he looked but light enough to be lifted without any hassle while either awake or sleeping. It took Hojo a few moments to undo the shirt buttons on the blonde and frowned when he saw the bruises on the torso.

Bruises had formed when he had been in the hospital, fighting with the staff to stop them from taking blood or any other kind of sample from him with a rather fierce passion.

Had the summoning of the dragon he had used to heal himself been a one time only affair or was it something that he could actually do at will? The boy wouldn't be all that willing to talk to strangers, it seemed that working with the Turks on this particular case would prove to be beneficial.

Hojo had overheard a few conversations between Tseng and Rude about the young blonde, Tseng had managed to strike up a conversation or at least some form of a rapport with him. The idea of working however with the young Wutain Turk was disgusting to him, they had nothing whatever in common and would more than likely disagree about something.

His plans for having some time alone with the boy had been scuppered for the moment. He took some empty vials and took a few samples of blood from the sedated teen on the bed. Studying the blood would be something he could do in the privacy of his lab and without being interupted by either the Turks or Sephiroth.

"Yes...I'm attending to the young guest we have," Hojo finally admitted.

It took a few moments before Tseng entered the room, arms laden with food. Surprise and anger flashed for a few seconds as he took in the scene. It didn't take a rocket scientist to establish the fact that Hojo had done something he perhaps shouldn't have.

"Uh...Professor? What is going on?" the young Wutian placed the bags down on the carpet and eyed the scene with suspicion.

Telling the truth seemed to be the best thing but the professor decided to omit a few of the facts, "He attacked me when I tried to look at his stitches, I sedated him. I also took the liberty of beginning a prelimanary examination of him as well, just to make sure that he was coping well."

The lies seemed to trip so easily off his tongue but he had never had a problem when it came to lying to those in power. Lying to Sephiroth was something that he did on a day by day basis, keeping his true relationship to the boy secret to all. The simple fact he was holding Vincent Valentine prisoner down in his lab and saying that he had no idea where he disappeared to after sixteen long years was proof that he could lie with the best of them.

He stepped back to allow the dark haired teen the chance to look over the younger teen, he could see the doubt race through dark eyes but evidence couldn't be given in order to accuse Hojo of anything wrong. Tseng shook his head, had it really been required to knock Cid out?

"You really felt it was appropriate to knock him out?" Tseng started to button up the shirt on Cid and pulled the covers back over him, something just didn't sit right with him but again, he couldn't prove anything agaisnt the scientist.

Hojo raised an eyebrow, "Are you doubting that? He attacked me, I was concerned for both my safety and the boy's."

The young Turk said nothing but stepped back from the double bed, he didn't trust Hojo as far as he could hurl a chocobo but he couldn't show any distrust to him. He'd heard the rumours that floated around the Shinra office about what happened to the last Turk who dared cross swords with the raising star of the science division.

Being left with no one but Hojo for company in the mansion was a little off putting so he decided that keeping himself busy by making dinner and his world class desert would kill time until Rude came back from whereever he was.

_When was the last time Sephiroth had a nice vacation away from this creepy and dank house? Maybe we should all head to the Gold Saucer...spend some time in the Wonder Square,_ Tseng crossed his arms and looked thoughtfully at his charge, _I'm sure Cid would love it...well...he needs the chance to interact with some people who don't wear blue suites and white coats._

The answer Hojo would give to that response was going to be a rather interesting no. He refused to allow Sephiroth the chance to do anything that wasn't educational or worthwhile. The scientist grudgingly hated to admit that the boy was going to have at least some interest in the opposite sex but hopefully that wouldn't be something the man would need to deal with just yet.

Rude and Tseng knew things about the silver haired teen that his guardian would never get the chance to. The fact that he wasn't a virgin and that he could drink some of the local town people under the table could never be shared with the older man they all loathed but respected.

"Did you talk to him? Tell him what you were going to do with him or did you just stick him with the needle without a by your leave?" Tseng somehow knew he would get a lie from the man but he wanted to hear the words tripping off his tongue anyway.

"He threw a boot at me as soon as I came into the room," Hojo stated truthfully, "He fell off the bed when he tried to attack. I had to sedate him in order to make sure he wasn't going to injure himself further. Oh, and he's fine. Nothing a good meal and a few months of rest wouldn't sort out."

"Mentally?"

"I need to talk with him for that," Hojo replied as he picked up his bag, "Any ideas as to how that can be done?"

Tseng shook his head, the teen was quiet and was really jumpy when it came to strangers. He had only managed to persuade the blonde bath and to eat a rather meager peice of bread yesterday afternoon. If he tried to jump Hojo just now, then the scientist would need to wait for Cid to settle into his new enviroment.

Cid had been pushed from pillar to post since he had been rescued and so far, nobody had really sat him down and spoken to him. People were too busy sticking him with needles and telling him what he should be feeling instead of asking how he was actually feeling.

"Why don't we let him come to us when he wants to talk?" Tseng leaned over and softly brushed away a stray bang that had fallen over closed blue eyes on the sleeping blonde.

Hojo's answer was the door closing as he left the room, Tseng sighed in relief. He gave Cid a long look, the first thing he noticed was the lack of the dark stitches that had woven across the right cheek. An angry slash still remained but it didn't look as nasty without the black threads running through.

_We'll try you with some shopping for food later, see if we can get you something you like to eat_, the young Turk ran a hand through his hair, they would go when it was dark, less chance of the locals gawking at the nervous young blonde.


End file.
